As the summer recruitment drive and pre-season plans roll on as we build up ahead of steam in the run up to facing Aberdeen on 31 July at Celtic Park, one transfer story has flown slightly under the radar of late. Last week Celtic had a bid accepted for St Mirren youngster Dylan Reid, with Ange Postecoglou stating that it was more a deal for the B-team instead of an immediate squad player.
Stephen McManus and Darren O’Dea would be the men to take the lead on this one and are in the process of trying to convince the young midfielder to join the Hoops ranks and develop with their second string side at Lennoxtown. A fee in the region of £125K had been accepted, but it was also rumoured the player himself was looking to see if theRangers or any other potential suitors popped up after seeing the Parkhead outfit make their move.
Now his manager at the Buddies has come out and stated publicly that he thinks Dylan should stay put in Paisley and continue his footballing education under the watchful gaze of the Northern Irishman. Robinson has even been in dialogue with Reid’s parents, such is the desire to keep the rising star where he is. He said: “Celtic have had conversations with Dylan, I have had conversations with him and his parents, as reported by PLZ Soccer.
“We want Dylan to stay. We think it is the best place for him to develop which has been proved. I will throw young players in and we have done. The boy has a decision to make and we don’t want to put any more pressure on a young kid. But we genuinely believe this is the best place for him to develop.
He added: “There’s other clubs interested in all our young players, at the minute there is only one who have made the board’s valuation (of Reid) so the rest is all speculation.”
When Ange came in he asserted the belief that we should be looking to build for sustainable success years down the line as opposed to constantly living in the present time hand-to-mouth as it were. This has always been a consistent criticism of the Celtic heirarchy and one that rung true when Scott Brown was not given adequate protection as he aged.
With Ange at the helm, it would seem that not only is he interested in having instant gratification as regards trophies and titles, but that he is keen to develop players and build for the future for a time dare I say when he is not even here anymore. It is a strategy that truly builds a legacy and also more importantly, sustainable success – similar to what Alex Ferguson done when he arrived at Manchester United from Aberdeen.
Look how that turned out…
Paul Gillespie
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