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Scouting Report – Free Agents

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Deila says he wants to bring in some experienced players to help out our young, inexperienced squad.

Deila says he wants to bring in some experienced players. That doesn’t necessarily mean old, it just means players who’ve played at the top level to help out our young, inexperienced squad. Normally this would cost a lot of money, hence why it’s typically going to be someone older. So I decided to go out and have a look at what we could get for not very much…..players without a club at the moment basically! Remember, we don’t have much time left to get a deal done!

“Remember, we don’t have much time left to get a deal done!”

First up that I found was Ondrej Mazuch, 26 year old Czech international CB who has just left Ukrainian side Dnipro (Champions League this season) having previously played at Fiorentina and Anderlecht. He has played 39 Europa League games in his career so far, plus
he has played in 6 Champions League qualifiers.
His current market value is around £3m and there was interest from EPL teams back in January. So far this summer he has been training with Sparta Prague in his homeland, so far though it seems he is a free agent still! Surely this is the sort of signing we should be making? Even if we’re paying him high wages, if he does well, he’s the sort we can sell on or can help us get to the CL and reclaim the money.

May Mahlangu, 26 year old South African international midfielder. He’s like Brown, a box to box midfielder, happy to move into wider areas and run with the ball, gets into the box and scores goals, hard in defence and he’s quick. We were looking at him once before, he’s a free agent having left Konyaspor in Turkey after only 1 year, previously he played in Sweden with Helsingborgs and Gothenburg. Not that much experience in European competition but has been in the Europa League before, and Champions League qualifiers.

Urby Emanuelson, 29 year old LM/LB/CM. Former Ajax, AC Milan, Fulham, Roma and Atalanta player he has made 32 appearances in the Champions League, 16 UEFA Cup appearances, 11 Champions League qualifiers, 11 Europa League Play-Offs, 8 Europa League appearances and 2 Europa League Qualifiers.
Now he has moved from Milan, to Roma and then to Atalanta all in the space of a year….but I don’t know why. The Roma deal was a 1 year deal with an option of a further 2 apparently but left after only 6 months, after 6 months with Atalanta he is now seemingly a free agent. He has bags of experience and is surely still worth a look?
He’s been back at Ajax, training with their youth team to stay fit!

Slobodan Rajkovic, 26 year old Serbian CB, left footed so can also fill in at LB, signed as a teenager by Chelsea, came through their system and went on loan to PSV, FC Twente, Vitesse all in the Dutch top flight before a permanent move to Hamburg in the Bundesliga. He’s been at Hamburg since 2011 but last season was their worst for a long time, they finished in the bottom 3 and had a play-off to remain the Bundesliga. In the history of Hamburg, they have never been relegated! They stayed up thanks to the play-off which they won. Rajkovic has left the club this summer and is a free agent. Not a huge amount of European experience but plenty in two of the best 8 leagues in Europe.

Johan Martial, 24 year old French CB. He’s just left Stade Brest2 29 in France. He’s not got the European competition experience but he has more first team experience than Boyata, 2 seasons in Ligue 1 and 2 seasons in Ligue 2. He’s quite a no-nonsense defender, just defends well, not uncomfortable in possession but prefers to let the more talented players use the ball. For free, I think he’d be a good addition.

Author: wee_od_88 – Vital Celtic Head of Scouting!

Link: Vital Celtic Forum

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