Looking at the business that both sides of the Old Firm are doing in this transfer market highlights a big difference in their approach to squad building.
Celtic seem to be allowing Ange Postecoglu to dictate a lot of their spending, identifying players from Asia – how successful this will be in the long term remains to be seen given how rarely players from this region go for big money – with Rangers continuing a recent trend over the last few years of looking across the border.
Shopping in England makes sense because, after all, this is predominantly where we will be looking to sell players if they do well. It is also a wealthy and competitive market to sell to.
Speaking to GiveMeSport, transfer journalist Dean Jones has commented on where Ross Wilson is recruitiing from:
“What we know about Rangers at the moment is that they are identifying players, particularly in England, that have seen either a drop off in form or just aren’t being given opportunities that they would want at this certain stage of their career.”
Todd Cantwell is a great example in that, normally, we wouldn’t be able to afford him, however, his form and contract status means that we can. Morgan Whittaker is the same, Swansea sent him out on loan for the first six months of the season rather than giving him a chance and it now looks like he has decided he wants to leave too.
We would all love to discover the next Balkan or Brazilian wonderkid but, when you are shopping on a budget, risk has to be avoided wherever possible. It might not be exciting, but shopping in England makes a lot of sense.