I know the club have ended interest in Jordan Larsson. I get that.
I also get that we decided to not offer him a contract based on the managers decision and who am I to question it?
And before people jump on and start claiming I am going to start criticising the manager, just stop.
But I do think this is worth a discussion.
Ange Postecoglou has made clear his intentions on where he wants to strengthen the side and for whatever reasons he has the gaffer has said no to Larsson and walked away from the deal.
But is that a mistake?
Vital Celtic have been running a poll asking the Celtic fans their opinion if they thought the Swedish international striker would have been a good signing for the club.
Over 5500 people took part in the poll (thank you!) and, overwhelmingly, 63% of the people that took part believed Larsson would have been a good addition to the squad.
And why not?
Would Jordan Larsson be a good signing for Celtic?
YES
NO
Listen, let’s try and forget that he is the son of Henrik. Let’s take this on it’s own merits.
Those 37% that said no, if another £10m rated striker became available and was interested in signing for the club, would those people that voted no still have said no if the striker wasn’t Jordan Larsson?
Is there a fear that the young man wouldn’t live up to his dads reputation or have the club made a mistake in not allowing him to carve his own destiny at Paradise?
Like I said, whatever the reasons, we trust Ange in this department.
He knows what he wants and, so far, he is getting what he needs from the board and he has not made one recruitment mistake yet.
But could this one be his first?
Unfortunately we will never know.
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I was wondering if Ange was also considering the effect on the dynamics of the team. They are a strongly bonded group now and speak always of the team & team spirit in interviews. If Jordan was to join press would constantly be after him asking him what his dad thinks, asking him if the fans adore him as much as the King etc – could be very disruptive to the team/squad that Ange is building. Not the boys fault of course but I was just thinking maybe Ange was wary of the media circus that would surround this signing and maybe thinking it would be better for Celtic and for Jordan to leave his father’s memory intact and go play his football somewhere else without the baggage. Maybe I’m overthinking this I probably am but thought I’d see what you think🤔
Whatever the merits of signing Jordan Larsson might be the fact remains he’d always be judged against what his dad did. I think Ange realised that and it wouldn’t be fair on the boy the constant comparison to his dad. I think that the manager also felt it would cast a shadow over the dressing room and be an intrusion that the group doesn’t need. The media scrutiny is bad enough as it is, if we signed Jordan it would’ve been a circus and that’s something that could cause resentment in the long run. Larsson could’ve been a wonderful signing in his own right but the pressure might’ve told and affected his game and then he limps away from the club a broken player. In my opinion Ange did what was right for both parties, he’s saved the club from becoming a sideshow and he’s saved the player from getting a doing from the smsm, no player no matter his surname is bigger than the club and Ange has done the right thing. He told us he’d always defend the club and do what’s best for Celtic no matter what in his first fan press conference and I believe that’s what he’s done here.