Juninho to Celtic all but done

eirebhoy

He passed his medical and talks have been 'positive', he's expected to sign in the next 48 hours. Asked if he was a Celtic player as he left Glasgow, he said: "Not yet, but nearly." He'll sign for a nominal fee but should be getting a hefty wage pack.

I honestly think this is Celtic's best signing in years and it really strengthen's the midfield. The first choice midfield would be something like this:
Thompson-Lennon-Juninho<->Petrov

with McGeady, Sylla (who had an excellent pre-season, a bag full of tricks), Pearson and Petta as backup. Lambert is still on the books but will be lucky to get a game.

We have a decent strikeforce in Camara, Hartson, Sutton and Beattie (with Maloney still to return from injury).
All thats needed now is a decent centre half. McNamara-Balde-Varga-Agathe is the current first choice with Laursen, Valgaeren and a few youngsters as the only backup (Kennedy is out injured for a few more months).

Great signing, I just hope the cheque book isn't closed.

Johnny_the_fox

eirebhoy wrote:

Great signing...

I dont think he is a great signing <but could be wrong>.. maybe a good one.

Fancy Boys dont last long in Scotland.. Eyal Berkovic, Nuno Capucho to name a few.

DapperGent

He would be a fantastic signing, particularily given that it'll be for change with his admitedly hefty wages being the only financial drawback.

I fancy him to absolutely destroy Scottish defences, he is an absolutely perfect signing for the way Martin O'Neill has Celtic playing. I'd imagine he has him earmarked for a free role in front of two bruising midfielders and behind one or two strikers. Juninho was always a touch of a liability when played in a 4-4-2 as he simply doesn't have the physique to be a proper central midfielder in a 4-4-2. As a free role attacking midfielder he can be a genius and has the ability to make a clubs season, but a team needs to make sacrifices for that sort of guile.

It can pay huge dividends though a la Pablo Aimar at Valenica or Ronaldinho at Barca.

Big Ears

Johnny_the_fox wrote:

I dont think he is a great signing <but could be wrong>.. maybe a good one.

Fancy Boys dont last long in Scotland.. Eyal Berkovic, Nuno Capucho to name a few.

lovenkrands could be deemed fancy , I dont know why a Premiership club dosen't come in with a bid in excess of £6 million which would be likely to pry him away from Ibrox .

He's one of the best players in Scotland and one of few Rangers players , who I don't think is after money .

eirebhoy

DapperGent wrote:

I'd imagine he has him earmarked for a free role in front of two bruising midfielders and behind one or two strikers. Juninho was always a touch of a liability when played in a 4-4-2 as he simply doesn't have the physique to be a proper central midfielder in a 4-4-2. As a free role attacking midfielder he can be a genius and has the ability to make a clubs season, but a team needs to make sacrifices for that sort of guile.

Unless O'Neill goes back to the 3-5-2 (which I doubt he will as it means dropping one of the full backs) I think Juninho will have to be happy playing in the traditional 4-4-2. McGeady's best position is also behind the strikers but he could only fit out on the right. As you said he could also play a 4-5-1 but that means dropping 2 of Hartson, Sutton or Camara.

McGeady might teach him a trick or two.

DapperGent

eirebhoy wrote:

Unless O'Neill goes back to the 3-5-2 (which I doubt he will as it means dropping one of the full backs)

I honestly think that's what he'll do and will get the most out Juninho and Martin O'Neill is in love with the wing back system.

For European games I think his best bet is a 4-5-1 with two wingers and an attacking central midfielder along with two bruiser midfielders i.e. Lennon + 1, but I just think that formation kicks ass. Best of many worlds.

3-5-2 or 4-4-2 for the Scots league though, as thats a minnow busting competition.

KdjaCL

Juninho is like a tap hot cold hot cold etc:

Maybe why a lot of managers stay away from him , he can be very frustrating but up in scotland he wil do well just his form will be erratic, i mean its Boro who are letting him go and hes over 30 thats like a prerequisite for Boro players.


kdjac

eirebhoy

I didn't know Juninho scored so many last season. He was Boro's second highest scorer in the league with 8 goals and he only started 26 matches. He also gets his fair share of assists but he didn't get much last season as you'd expect with a strikeforce of Job and Nemeth.

Boro fans seem very sad to see him go:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-perl/h2cluster2/h2.cgi?board=sixosix.middlesbrough&state=threads

Johnny_the_fox

eirebhoy wrote:

I didn't know Juninho scored so many last season. He was Boro's second highest scorer in the league with 8 goals and he only started 26 matches. He also gets his fair share of assists but he didn't get much last season as you'd expect with a strikeforce of Job and Nemeth.

but .. he'll be playing the likes of Dunfermline, Dundee Utd, Kilmarnock and Hearts.. with bad pitches and bad referees.. its total different ball game. :eek: This would be like going to Reading, Rotherham Utd or Stoke City - in the first divison (the championship or whatever :rolleyes:)...

still a good signing.. hopefully we will get a few more.

Boro

I think its a disgrace the way McClaren has treated Juninho. He loves the club and all he wants is a game. He is a great player but there just doesnt seem to be room for him in our tactics.

He will be sorely missed for his creativity and flair.

Celtic are getting a player who is just coming down off the world-class level. He will do very very well for celtic and is just the type of player they have needed since moravcik(sp?) left.

*sob*

[edit]I have since seen that we are trying to replace him with Dalmat... WHY? Is McClaren trying to build a squad to match newcastle in terms of infighting? Im getting very dubious...

smemon

good buy but too old, will only have a few seasons left at most.

where's the youth? lennon, lambert, sutton, hartson, juniho, thompson, varga....
these are 1st team regulars bar maybe lambert. the side is too old and doesnt have enough mix.

a 30+ something and camara on loan for a season is poor business to be quite honest, not the way forward.

eirebhoy

smemon wrote:

a 30+ something and camara on loan for a season is poor business to be quite honest, not the way forward.

The Camara deal is the way I'd like to see deal's done in the future. So often teams waste large amounts of money on players that fail to fit into the team. Celtic have loaned Camara for a season and if he impresses, Celtic buy him. Wolves have no say in what happens, they either have him at the end of the season or not, its in Celtic's hands. Juninho may be 31 but I can see him playing until about 35.

The current team may be getting on a bit but MON knows what he's doing. Here's a team of 30 or unders that would probably give Rangers best team a run for their money:
Marshall (19) ; Agathe (29) - Balde (28) - Kennedy (21) - McNamara (30) ; Wallace (19) - Petrov (25) - McGeady (18) - Thompson (30) ; Camara (27) - Hartson (29).

Pearson (21)
Sylla (27)
Petta (30)
Maloney (21)
Beattie (20)
Valgaeren (28)
Laursen (28)

Plus the fact that Juninho has around 3 seasons left, Varga has about 2, Sutton - 3, and while Lennon is 33 I think we could get another 2 full seasons out of him playing the holding role. There will be one or two more signings this season and there's plenty of time to rebuild the squad around the likes of Petrov.

leeroybrown

I'm sure MON would love to be buying 24 year old players with Juninho's qualities but it's hard to lure them to Scotland. Juninho should have a couple of good seasons in him for Celtic plus he costs a lot less up front. Remember the quality of play they got from Lubomir Moravcik when he was in his mid 30's.

eirebhoy

He signed a 2 year deal today, subject to obtaining a work permit.