Simon Murray to Celtic Summer Transfer Claim Made

Celtic have won the Premiership once again, accruing their 55th league title in club history, and put themselves in a good position entering the 2025 summer transfer window. With that said, they most certainly have needs across the roster, and filling them is going to be an enormous priority ahead of the 25-26 season.

Despite allowing Kyogo Furuhashi to leave this winter, they were able to overcome the striker deficit with outstanding work from Daizen Maeda and quality supplementary performances from Adam Idah. This has allowed them to be somewhat flexible in what they are looking to add in the coming months, but striker has been a loud talking point in many rumours.

One of the players who has been praised, expressly by Callum McGregor, is Simon Murray of Dundee, a Player of the Year candidate for the SPFL, who had no doubt one of the best seasons of his career.

However, Gordon Dalziel recently spoke about a potential Murray to Celtic move with Clyde1 Superscoreboard, and why he believes it is almost certain not to happen (transcribed by 67 Hail Hail): Age, simple as that, He is 33. That’s not Celtic’s model.

“Come off the bench? I totally agree with that, but that’s not the way forward. Simon Murray is probably having his best season ever in football. He has been absolutely brilliant for Dundee. He deserves all the pats on the back that he is getting. He deserves to be in that nomination for (Player of the Year). 

“I can make a brilliant case for him being second, because Maeda will certainly win it. But I think Simon Murray, this season, has held Dundee together. I think Dundee would have real problems without him.

“But he is a team player. We go back to the old cliché, I used to say it, he is a manager’s dream. He goes out there, he plays for the team, he is unselfish, banged his goals in this season, so he deserves to be there. 

“Simon Murray, look, we have praised him. He will be nowhere near Celtic’s radar. Let’s be honest. I am delighted that supporters from other clubs are recognising the job that he has done – but to take that leap to Celtic isn’t going to happen.”

This is an intriguing stance in terms of the age component, given Celtic did just bring in Jeffrey Schlupp on loan at 32 years of age this winter, but generally, the concept makes sense.

The Hoops try not to sign players who are already at, near or past their peak, and rather go for youngsters who have potential to rise and bring significant transfer fees to the club in the future.

It will be extremely interesting to see what direction Celtic takes this summer in terms of building the squad to compete with the best of the best in Europe. A good mix of veteran talents and rising talent is always how they try to play things, but it will ultimately depend on which needs they are looking to fill before all else.