Alfred Finboggson was never a serious option . He has still two or three years to run on his contract . The only way to prise him away from his club would have preen to pay his club two or three times his worth . The EPL is full of teams with easier ways of accumulating money than Celtic and Very many of them needing good goal scorers but none bought Alfred. I think Lennon's tactics is to have hard working attacking players creating chances for each other and for there to be a good goal spread among his front players rather than out and out poacher .
Cant remember the amount of our bid, but I recall it was £3-4m. His club said he could be sold for £5m (they were having some financial problems) He could have been bought, and it would not have been 2 or 3 times his worth. He has scored 13 goals in 12 games this season Had he been performing at a similar rate for us, and doing so on the biggest stage of all - the champions league - we could have easily sold him on in a year or 2 for a Wanyama type fee. Which is what we need to do. At present as good as I think Pukki may be, he will not attract a bid of £10-15m any time soon.
I think that was paper talk his club said he could be sold for £5m , within a week that figure had gone to £7 million . The point I made earlier that clubs EPL clubs and other clubs that needed a striker didn't grab him for £5m. £7m or £10m . The fact that he has scored regularly in the league he is in , doesn't definitely mean he would score in Scotland . The fact that the media, his agent, or club touted for sale at various amounts doesn't necessary say he was willing to play in Scotland . I just find it so difficult to understand how people on football forums , either know more than Lawwell/Lennon or want success more than Lawwell or Lennon . I foolishly thought that Lennon would have signed Alfred , so that his job would be more secure . Foolish me .
I've never said Lennon doesn't want success. In fact I believe by the board not signing players like finboggson they are not backing him to the extent he deserves to achieve even more than e has with a limited budget. Lawell too wants success but doesn't want to spend any money to get it-which is fair enough-but I believe if he wants Lennon to build a truly great side/or simply reward him for what he has done they should back him by letting him spend a wee bit more to get a wee bit of quality. Ones for the future are good, but we sold 3 established first team players. Luckily van djik has hit the ground running. The rest of the signings have not done the same. Lennon deserved a bit more to spend considering the amount of profit made on transfers and success he helped bring As for an epl side, mark my words finboggson will probably go to the epl, maybe even in January, and he will impress. He will then be outwith our budget. We need to get his type before they go to England to sell for a premium.
Its fine to say now that Finboggson will hit the EPL after the massive number of goals he has scored this season and the fact that he is six months closer to the end of his contract . The fact remains none of the money bagged EPL clubs would touch him with a barge pole . You say that its lucky that Virgil has hit the ground running , it could just as easily said that it has been unlucky that Derek and Pukki haven't hit the ground running . There is no evidence what so ever that if Lennon had really demanded Alfred and Lawwell turned him down . However its a nice wee topic for the forums and The Rangers obsessed Scottish media to stir the Celtic fans up.
