Celtic finally got their man this week as a deal was struck at last with Norwich City to bring Adam Idah back to the club on a permanent basis. But might they rue allowing another striker to slip from their grasp, and from right under their noses?
It was an emotional scene at Pittodrie at the weekend as Bojan Miovski bid his farewell to the Granite City, scenes matched no doubt in the comfy seats as the board wept tears of joy at the fee they were banking for the North Macedonian.
A player who they had signed for £575,000 from MTK a couple of years ago, who had contributed brilliantly and prolifically during his time at the club, would be moving on to La Liga side Girona, who may eventually pay as much as £6.8m for the striker if he hits certain milestones inserted into the deal.
It is a whopping fee for a non-Old Firm club in Scotland to attract, and Aberdeen deserve a lot of credit for standing firm until their valuation was met.
It is difficult to see one of the Glasgow sides paying that sort of money for a player from another Scottish side, though in the case of Rangers at the moment, that may be because they don’t have it. Celtic certainly do though, so if they were considering a move for Miovski, why would they have baulked at paying such a rate?
There may be substance to the age-old notion that some level of snobbery is at play, with the reason that Celtic would not pay such a figure for Miovski rooted in the same sort of condescending thinking that seems to have made Rangers reluctant to fork out a few million quid for Lawrence Shankland.
Never mind the fact that both are proven goalscorers at the level, and, it would stand to reason, would only be even more prolific playing in a side that creates far more chances for their forwards than either Aberdeen or Hearts typically do.
A line that is trotted out when discussing such potential moves for players within the Premiership is that ‘they wouldn’t improve the team in the Champions League’, but how do we know unless they are given a go?
Girona, who finished fourth in La Liga last season, will also be in the Champions League next season, and had no such qualms about forking out for Miovski. Time will tell if he can cut it at such a level, but playing regularly in one of Europe’s top five leagues would, in theory at least, give him ample scope to improve even further.
Miovski has been a joy to watch at Aberdeen, and in a side that has struggled as a collective during much of his time in Scotland. He scored 44 goals in 97 appearances, but also had other strings to his bow. His hold up and link up play was excellent. He was good in the air. He could mix it physically, and he was no slouch either. He is 25, and coming into the prime years of his career.
In short, he would seem to fit the profile of the sort of player Celtic should be looking to recruit as part of their transfer strategy.
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Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is slowly working on bringing his club round to the notion that speculating just a little bit more to give themselves the best possible chance of accumulating down the line is their best way forward, as evidenced by the Idah deal.
By bringing in Miovski, they would not only have further bolstered their frontline in the here and now - with a three of him, Idah and Kyogo Furuhashi vying for a place perhaps the best combination of forwards they would have had in many, many years - but they would have secured an asset that could potentially make his sizeable fee look like chicken feed in a couple of years’ time.
By passing up the chance to sign Miovski, Celtic may not quite one day be saddled with the sort of regret they felt when they missed out on John McGinn, and with the fee it would have taken to land him, they cannot be accused of the same level of penny-pinching that they were guilty of then.
But as anyone who has watched Miovski regularly over his two years in this country will tell you, he certainly has the potential to go on and earn Girona a much bigger fee in the years to come.
These things are far from an exact science, but if he can score goals in La Liga and even get a few in European competition, then Celtic may well be left with egg on their face, having allowed a golden goose to slip from their grasp.
