MARC OVERMARS TANTRUM WON’T SPEED UP BALIKWISHA CELTIC MOVE
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 3 minutes ago
- 3 min read
There’s a couple of sayings you often here from those in positions of wealth or power. The first is: “don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”
The second is “it’s a buyers’ market”.
Now, I’m no fan of late-stage capitalism, as you probably know from my frequents rants about the greed that plagues modern football. However, these are the realities in which Celtic operate.
The potential Michel-Ange Balikwisha Celtic transfer is one situation where both of the above statements apply.
Overmars’ Outburst Could Derail Balikwisha Celtic Deal
Marc Overmars’ frustrations, which he expressed in the media today, are perhaps understandable from his point of view. But if he genuinely wants to get this deal done, then deriding the clubs that are supposedly in for the player, won’t make things move any faster.
He said, via Belgian outlet GVA: “Things like that (outgoing transfers) can happen in a day. I don’t want to beat around the bush: many clubs are ready to make a move.
“There were some bids but they were not serious enough. We’ll see if anything attractive comes along in the near future.”
Overmars needs to get real here. Antwerp are in serious financial peril. They need to sell players to clear their debts.
The club were forced into a very one-sided financing deal with London-based hedge fund Fasanara in May of this year, just to keep things going.
In a David Murray-style turn of events, years of being largely dependent on their wealthy owner, Paul Gheysens, whose real estate business has over-extended itself, much as Murray’s portfolio of companies did in the mid-2000s.
There’s also the reality of Balikwisha’s own situation. He’s in the final year of his contract. He has a chequered history of injuries. Both of these factors mean that Celtic are right to expect Antwerp to lower their supposed 5 Million Euro asking price.
It’s a simple choice, take what you can get now, or be stuck with a player who wants away for another 12 months and lose him for nothing next summer.
Overmars can talk all he wants about the bids not being “serious enough”, but the economic realities facing Royal Antwerp mean that, ultimately, this decision may be taken out of his hands.
There is room for negotiation, and as I said, I don’t blame him for being frustrated at the situation. But passive-aggressive statements like today, clearly aimed at Celtic, won’t help get things moving.
He’ll know fine well what fee the club want for the player. He’ll also know how much Celtic have offered. There hasn’t been much talk of any other clubs showing serious interest in the player.
In fact, I have a theory. This deal would probably be concluded by now if Celtic hadn’t let it be known that they got 17 million for Nicholas Kuhn last week.
I think Antwerp, much like Rapid Vienna did last week with Isak Jansson, are treating Celtic as an “easy mark” so to speak. They know we’ve got money and they know there is fan pressure to spend that money on players like Balikwisha.
However, Rapid Vienna had other interested parties in their player, and were able to manipulate the situation to their advantage. Jansson is a good player, but he’s never worth 9 million. Celtic were right not to pay over the odds for him.
Celtic are also right to hold firm in their dealings with Antwerp now. Afterall, The Belgians are skint, and we hold all the cards. In the words of Michael Corleone: It's nothing personal, it's just business.