Club owner makes claim about future of Celtic-linked striker
It was reported last week that the Parkhead club are tracking the Moroccan frontman, who has scored 19 goals in the Dutch second tier this season.
Read more:
The 25-year-old is available on a free transfer this summer and can play on either wing.
Otte recently opened up on the future of his club's star man: "After such a good season, and you are mega in the picture as Telstar, I think that good performances have not gone unnoticed," he said [NRC via RecordSport].
"As long as we cannot offer the budget of club X, we are just a springboard. We have to embrace that role.
"But the players have to want to jump very high. Otherwise, you do not fit in at Telstar."
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers wanted to sign a number nine in the January transfer window after Kyogo Furuhashi swapped Glasgow's east end for Rennes.
His wish never came to fruition, though, as the Scottish Premiership champions failed to find a replacement for the Japanese frontman.
It remains to be seen where they may look to strengthen this summer.
One thing we do know is that Kieran Tierney is returning to the club. His free transfer from Arsenal will officially go through on July 1.
Also now available for nothing is Jeffrey Schlupp. His permanent Crystal Palace exit was announced on Wednesday. The Ghanaian spent the second half of the campaign on loan at Celtic.
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Daily Record
an hour ago
- Daily Record
Neil Lennon lifts the lid on Premiership job snub and dugout chaos as ex Celtic boss targets history with Dunfermline
The former Hoops manager was linked with a string of top flight positions but explained on why he's up for Pars adventure Premiership manager jobs have become like buses. You wait for months for one to turn up then about five appear all at once. Neil Lennon could have hopped on board most of them – but the ticket to Dunfermline was the only one he wanted. The former Celtic and Hibs boss could easily have been facing the media this week wearing the colours of Dundee, Motherwell or Kilmarnock. Rangers or Hearts would have been a turn up for the books, but a fair amount of fans of the other three clubs would have welcomed Lennon in a heartbeat. But the man himself didn't give those gigs a second's thought. The seven-week stint as caretaker boss in these parts was enough to convince him to stick around for the long term. Lennon penned a two year deal this week and rather than managing back in the Premiership, his dream is to lead the Pars to the promised land. The Northern Irishman said: 'It's just because of the owner (James Bord) here. I really enjoyed the seven weeks and then enjoyed speaking to him about what the plans are. 'I got a good feel about it as well. I've always had a bit of loyalty in my career and felt I owed him that as well. 'My mind was made up weeks ago. I didn't speak to any other clubs or entertain it. 'I am really focused on the job in hand. I don't get excited very much at my age but this is really exciting me.' It must do, as Lennon could easily have settled for the quiet life, working as a respected and engaging pundit, watching the game from the sidelines. It's not how he's wired up though. Lennon – who admitted the door is open for Victor Wanyama to return – said: 'I know, but I would miss the edge. Talk to all coaches, they have that inner competitive edge, we all have it. 'You go and do the games as a pundit and then you get in the car afterwards and that's it. 'If you are a coach you are thinking about what is happening, what you need to do and so on, it's very stimulating. 'Yeah, some might like that it's done and dusted after the game when you are a pundit but I like that it's not. 'You need that edge. In a perverse sort of way I enjoy the chaos. You miss it. I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't think I still had plenty left in me and if I thought I couldn't make an impact. 'I had to ask all those questions of myself. I have liked the last couple of months. The football wasn't sparkling but we got the job done. Now we have a new page to write.' The book is already bursting at the seams though. Lennon has experienced the lot in the dugout, from the trophy laden joys of two spells with Celtic, promotion with Hibs and cup and Europa League success abroad. Then there were the struggles. The mayhem of the covid season and the failed 10-in-a-row bid with the Hoops, the shock sacking by Omonia and the brief crazy spell with Rapid Bucharest. It's been a wild ride but some things never change as Lennon said: 'You get all experiences as a manager. Sometimes you take the good ones for granted and that's what you learn as you get older, you have to enjoy the wins and enjoy the good times. 'The tough times, everyone experiences them. All the great managers have had big games where they've lost cup finals. 'What you want to do is go back, go again and rectify that. 'This one's different for me, no question and something I'm really looking forward to. 'So I've still got that experience and I think I can bring that to Dunfermline. 'I want to excite people. 'I might get into a few conflicts along the way….just to get the crowd going, the players going, more than anything. 'But it won't be dull!' It won't be easy either. Lennon is well aware the Championship is brutally tough to escape, especially next term with relegated St Johnstone and Ross County around. It might take a couple of seasons but he's in it for the long haul – and he'd love to secure a place in the club's illustrious history along with former heroes such as Jock Stein and Alex Ferguson. Lennon said: 'I see Fergie's face every day! I saw him a couple of weeks ago at the Airdrie game and told him I was sick of seeing him! 'Obviously there is Jock as well. I like it. There's a great history and tradition here. 'The owner now has good ideas. He said the club is under his skin now and it took him four goes to convince me but in the end he sold it to me. 'I felt I owed him something back. We want to make an impact and have people remember you for the right reasons – and that's what I am aiming to do. 'Going up is the ultimate objective. I have a two year contract and I think it will be difficult but not insurmountable to do that. 'Every other club in the league will be thinking the same.' Tune in to Hotline Live every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport's newest podcast, Game On, every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bitesize chunks.
Scottish Sun
an hour ago
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Ex-Rangers and Celtic title winners to go head-to-head in unique USA tournament with football icons for $1million prize
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The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
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The men behind a new club-operation system for the SPFL cite the most successful Scottish manager of all time as the best example of a coach who proved that it's not only possible to win by playing kids. It's also possible, with strategy and bravery, to win by playing kids born and raised in Scotland. 'The great irony of those comments were that the manager Alan was talking about was Scottish, arguably the most successful manager in history and wherever he has been successful has been based on giving young players first team minutes,' says Chris Docherty, co-author of last year's SFA Transition Report on the dearth of first team minutes for academy footballers. Recent figures from CIES Observatory show that St Mirren offered just 0.8% of their available first team minutes to players aged 21 or under this season. Celtic were second bottom with 7.8%, Aberdeen slightly better with 7.9%. Rangers made it to 13.6% while Dundee had the highest figure in the SPFL Premiership with 24.8% of first team minutes given to players in the key 16-21 transition phase. 'I saw an interview with David Beckham recently where he said that when he bought Inter Miami and asked Sir Alex Ferguson's advice on building a club he told him that the most important thing was the academy and bringing through your own players,' adds Docherty. 'Alex Ferguson wasn't worried about relegation. He brought young players through at Aberdeen and Manchester United because he felt that it could elevate the teams to be the best in Europe. Which they were. 'Look at when Celtic won the European Cup and it was all Scottish players. Look at Rangers and Aberdeen and Dundee United when they were punching above their weight in Europe and it was all Scottish players in the team. 'Clubs will say that the quality of the young Scottish players is not the same as it was back then. 'Some people even blame the invention of the ipad. But the ipad exists in all countries such as Spain where young players are coming through in healthy numbers. 'The question is, then, what can we do differently to improve the level of Scottish players coming through?' From June 16 clubs in the Premiership and Championship can sign agreements which allow young players to move from one club to another and play games with flexibility, freedom and fewer restrictions. Based on studies of similar systems in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Hungary and Serbia, the think tanks of old were replaced by data and fact-based evidence in a quest to find a way to increase the playing time of young Scottish footballers. Already Celtic are talking to Queen's Park and Rangers with Raith Rovers. Dundee United want to link up with Montrose while it makes geographical sense for Aberdeen to work with Arbroath and Cove Rangers and Hearts to speak with League Two Spartans. In Scottish football clubs rarely agree on anything. A system which helps clubs in the top flight as well as those further down the pyramid – and the national team – cooperation agreements brokered a rare accord An acknowledgement that Scotland needs to give young players more opportunities to play first team football without the restrictive impositions of the loan system. When the summer transfer window opens transition players will be free to flit between their parent team and their cooperation side freely. The current under-18 league will also become an under-19 competition with overage players permitted to pit the youngsters to up against men. In a simple, yet logical move, the games will be moved from Friday to enable young players to sit on a first team bench on a Saturday or Sunday and still play a game of football on a Monday. 'Through a period of consultation with league bodies, internally and with clubs across the pyramid, we are now ready to go,' says SFA Chief Football Officer Andy Gould. 'The vast majority of those consulted are in favour of this and have backed it. 'We have done a body of work, using a strong, evidence based approach and data, had a strong consultation phase and come out with a system which the game has bought into. 'The first thing was to demonstrate that there was an issue and show what that issue looked like and then have a conversation about why that was happening. That then takes you to the solutions. Read more: How SFA see loan co-operation system benefiting national team as clubs in talks Ex-Celtic winger Daniel Arzani a transfer target for Hearts 'Through conversations we realised that there was a bit of excitement and buy-in to this system. And we began to understand how this might work. 'There is a lot of work ahead but we want to make a difference in the game. We want to see young talent getting an opportunity, that's our business.' Eighteen months in the creation, Docherty describes the system as a 'landmark' moment for the Scottish game. All 42 clubs were consulted and, in a rare state of affairs, the interests of Celtic and Rangers seemed to align - for once - with those of Stenhousemuir and East Fife. Old Firm youngsters retained for UEFA 'homegrown' squad purposes will now be permitted to play first team football for another cooperation partner. Clubs with smaller squads need worry no more. If they need fringe youngsters back at short notice now, there is nothing to stop them. If a young player goes out in search of games and the arrangement doesn't work they can return home quickly and easily and be replaced by someone else the next day. A former technical consultant for the Croatian Football Federation and Hadjuk Split, Chris Docherty was also the sporting director of Honved of Budapest. His overseas experience told him that something in Scotland had to change. 'There is a pattern in all the small nations that are successful. 'Spain are the top nation in the world and they have B teams playing in the system. 'B teams is one model, the co-operation system is the other model. 'I don't think you will find many countries successful in developing players that don't have any model at all. 'B teams was not an acceptable system for our clubs. So we knew that the co-operation agreements was the one most likely to work when we got the feedback from the clubs.' Progress takes time and the results of the system are unlikely to be instant. One thing which won't change is the size of Scotland's top flight. While many harbour a suspicion that a 12-team Premiership makes it too risky for the job prospects of managers to field raw, untried youngsters the latest reconstruction talks between clubs voted to retain the status quo. Docherty remians to be convinced that the issue makes much difference anyway. 'I have worked in two countries with a more competitive league structure than Scotland. 'Croatia has a ten team league and Hungary has 12 teams with two automatic relegation places and there were more young players getting minutes there than here. 'I also used to work at Hadjuk Split and this season they were competing until the final matchday with a chance to win the league. 'They had a serious number of young player minutes there are and that comes from the strategy of the club. 'Because we have not had clubs following that model we haven't seen the benefits. This system gives Scotland an opportunity to change that.'
