Juninho released by Celtic

Dub13

http://www.breakingnews.ie/2005/04/05/story196680.html

He was a big disappointment,

super_furry

One of the most overated players of the last decade to my mind. He only ever impressed it tiny fits and bursts for Middlebrough and has done little of note elsewhere.

Dub13

It must have cost Celtic a few bob....anybody know how much he was on...?

KdjaCL

65 grand a week irc
I sure Eirebhoy kows how much he has paid in last few months too.

Not a bad player if you can afford him with players to actually work for 89 minutes while he does somfin good for 1 minute.

But he has little or nothing for last 10 years, shame played well sometimes.


kdjac

Badabing

He did well in the first old firm game and 1 or 2 other games but was easilly pushed off the ball, i think he was on around 30 grand a week at least we can use his wages to bring in other players.

Boro

Juninho will always be loved by Middlesbrough fans. He was Brazillian player of the year when Bryan Robson signed him for us. In his first season he was amazing. He scored 15 goals and created so many others. Ravanelli scored 26 or 27 goals (16 in the league) and most of those were created by Juninho. The little fella was in tears when we (unjustly - damn you coventry!) got relegated. He still got pfa player of the year and was runner up in the football writers player of the year.

He then left for athletico madrid and thats when the hurt started. He never recovered fully from that horrific tackle that broke his ankle. He still scored 14 goals in 55 games for them. He came back on loan to us (scored 5), went back to AM then joined us again. He went on to score quite a few goals (9 in his last 30 games for the club) before joining celtic.

Unfortunately he didnt fit into McClarens thinking as he seems to prefer a hardworking central midfield and flair from the wings/strikers rather than a central attacking midfielder. He resorted to playing TLF up front and he never looked the part there. Juninho was and always will be a legend to the Boro fans and was a great player. He had a record of a goal every 5 games (on average - and thats pretty good considering his lean spells where he was recovering from injury) since he came to europe, and thats good for a midfielder playing in the premiership and La Liga. He also set up a lot of goals with his incisive passing, movement and vision.

He never adapted to the scottish game though and thats a shame as most peoples memories will be of him failing to impress at Celtic. To say he never achieved anything in the last 10 years is misinformed, pure and simple. Did he get his world cup winners medal because he drove the bus or something? (50 caps and 5 goals for brazil) The fact is he always gave his all and was a fantastic player. Its a shame though that its ended like it has.

Juninho - a legend.

KdjaCL

In his 1st season with boro he wa smazing, umm that was 10 years ago.

Never once has that word "amazing" been associated with any of his other 9 seasons. Played well sometimes but not "amazing". If he was would boro have let him go 3 times ,AM let him go , now Celtic let him go.

Hardly the legacy of a legend.


kdjac

Boro

Boro got relegated and Juninho wanted to play in the worldcup (98). La Liga was getting a lot more coverage in brazil than Division 1 was, so unsurprisingly he asked to leave (not let go). When he joined AM (who were a good side then) he signed a clause in the contract that meant Boro had first option on him. Anyway, he had his ankle broken in a cowardly challenge and ended up missing the world cup. He struggled for form after coming back (the 98/99 season) and came to us on loan the next season. Then his loan ended (he was not 'let go'). In 2002 middlesbrough bought him from AM (he was not let go) and he played for us for 2 years. Then because of his differences with mcClaren (ie he wasnt playing as regularly as he wanted or he was being played out of position) he was allowed to join Celtic (he was let go).

I think you will find that he was 'let go' just the once actually. He cost £23 million in fees over 10 years. He was a consistently high performer until his last season at middlesbrough. How many other midfielders are there that you know to have as good a goalscoring record and are responsible for as many goals created? (i dont have figures for assists but they are quite high i'd imagine).

Never once has that word "amazing" been associated with any of his other 9 seasons

If you wish to apply the term 'amazing' to seasons, how many players out there are considered to have amazing seasons? Its really very subjective.

Theres no real point in arguing about it. Its a matter of opinion either way, but MY opinion of the matter is that Juninho is/was a far better player than he is being made out to be by the preceding posts. To say he played well sometimes, or had the odd flash of brilliance, or did nothing, or played only 1 minute of a game - now thats opinion. Misinformed and wrong by my book.

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

KdjaCL

35k stg according to google, knew there was a 5 in there, think Mirror said it was 65k.

kdjac

A Dub in Glasgo

McGeady effectively put paid to any chance Juninho had at Celtic. I had big hopes for the wee man but he never imposed himself when he got the chance. That is now 2 of O'Neills desperation 'signings' last summer gone and both have failed to make any impact in Scotland.

KdjaCL

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

That is now 2 of O'Neills desperation 'signings' last summer gone and both have failed to make any impact in Scotland.

By desperation you mean free and within budget hard to buy good players with no money and all you can get is players that free, there is usually a reason they free.

kdjac

thejollyrodger

I think Mc Geady hastened his departure;) Personally I thought he was a major flop since he left 'boro. good move by Celtic IMO

A Dub in Glasgo

KdjaC wrote:

By desperation you mean free and within budget hard to buy good players with no money and all you can get is players that free, there is usually a reason they free.

kdjac

That is obviously one part of it.

I was looking at the angle that Celtic do absolutely nothing in the transfer market right until the death when these 2 deals are pulled from the hat (Juninho & Camara). The inability of Celtic (particularly O'Neill) to look beyoind the borders of the EPL if they wanted someone from another league. There are plenty of good players outside the top leagues which would suit Celtics budget. The fact that Celtic have paid £35k per week wages for Juninho shows that the wage is there for good players from outside the money laden EPL to tap into.

BTW Camara was not free

Big Ears

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

BTW Camara was not free

£1.7 million for the the 1 year loan with an option to buy for another £7.something wasn't it ?

Boro

ack shouldnt have waited so long to hit the post button.

Twas something like that alright Big Ears, yep.

A Dub in Glasgo

Celtic paid Wolves a £1.5m fee for agreeing to take Camara on loan for a year. Celtic then paid the wages of the player. When Camara was re-loaned to Southampton, a further fee was paid to Wolves by Southamton (a figure of £500k was mentioned somewhere at the time). In effect, Wolves have received £2m for the player and still retain his registration should they wish to sell him on!!

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

Slash/ED

Before his injury problems in Spain he was an absolutley incredible player. It's a shame he wont be remembered for that.

eirebhoy

I wouldn't call Juninho a flop. He just couldn't fit into the team and I'm not suprised.

Anyway, we have a new up and coming star. Since Finnbogason arrived from Reykavic he has scored 6 goals in 6 games for the youths. He made his reserve debut in Ricky Gillies testimonial last week, coming off the bench. He came on after 85 minutes for the reserves this afternoon and scored.

Nuttzz

a manager tends to buy players from the leagues he knows, nothing ususal there, GH & RB have dont it at Liverpool, AW at Arsenal etc some good celtic buys have come from outside the EPL, Blade, Joos Val etc