The signing of Youssouf Mulumbu might not be the star name Celtic supporters were hoping for this summer and his arrival certainly doesn’t paper over the mistakes made by the Parkhead club’s board during the transfer window.

Yet brining in the midfielder should represent a smart bit of business from Brendan Rodgers and the Celtic recruitment team.

The Scottish Premiership champions lost Stuart Armstrong to Southampton during the offseason, injured Nir Bitton has been a long term casualty and The Hoops lost out to Aston Villa when they tried to sign Scottish international John McGinn from Hibs earlier in the month.

Eboue Kouassi and Scott Allan don’t seem to figure in Brendan’s plans for the starting eleven, so it makes sense that the Glasgow side would want to bring in another experienced central midfielder to act as cover if anything were to happen to Scott Brown, Callum McGregor or Olivier Ntcham during the current campaign.

Mulumbu isn’t your typical Hoops signing, being that he’s over thirty but the Congolese internationalist impressed at Kilmarnock last season and showed that he can handle life in Scotland’s top flight. He also spent seven years playing in the English Premier League.

For the first time in a long while Celtic could have strong competition coming from various teams in the Premiership and Rodgers will also be hopeful of challenging in the Europa League, that should mean more competitive games and having a veteran like Youssouf to call upon would be a boost for the Celtic boss.

Mulumbu will give his new team added bite in the engine room and a strength to get the ball and keep it. He also possesses a strong and solid work ethic. During his spell at Killie, the African player often looked to be their focal point and helped drive Steve Clarke’s men to a top six finish.

The player also seems very keen to impress his new side’s faithful and win trophies with The Hoops:

“To play in a big team like Celtic is just amazing. I always work very hard and I want to help the young lads here. We have so much to achieve. We need to do well in the Europa League, retain all the domestic trophies and continue winning the Glasgow derbies.”

I’m not sure why the Celtic hierarchy didn’t sign Youssouf Mulumbu earlier in the window, they should’ve tied the free agent down as soon as the McGinn deal was off but at least they’ve got their man now.

It’s not the most inspired of signings but I do believe that bringing in the thirty-one year old will improve Celtic’s squad and that’s the main thing for Brendan Rodgers as the transfer window comes to a close.

Posted on August 31st, 2018 by scott
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