I know you’re really disappointed about this, but I have to say that I’d take those Nmecha brothers from City in a heartbeat.
@Ryan I’ve no douth Fello Celt, that there a some young gems within that U23 team and if Maresca becomes the manager/coach, they’ll more than likely be brought in to continue their development but here’s the issue I have with that.
Let’s say my above assumptions becomes a reality, Harkin & Maresca are the supposed dream team, both the ‘Nmecha brothers’ and other players alike from Man City’s Academy are brought in and let’s say we make it to the UEFA Cup and go on a great run (with these players) we, Celtic won’t be benefiting from their development, it will be City who will reap the rewards. So we’ll ignore our youth set-up in order to nurture and develop Man Citys
We were heavily linked with Balic in the summer of 2019 but nothing came of it. Might have been a hold over from the Congerton days. Stephen McGowan, who is pretty reliable and was even more so a couple of years ago, reported it in the Mail.
I haven’t seen him play but he did well under Valerien Ismael (who is an interesting left field choice for the Celtic job).
I think it is a case of every report on Balic since mentioning Celtic, but wouldn’t mind proper speculation resurfacing as he has a good profile.
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I must have missed that back in 2019! Thanks for your insight, John!
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This one is interesting. I will take a wee look tomorrow.
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Perfect!
I just realized that the Austrian Bundesliga is included on that OneFootball app, I’ll keep an eye out for their matches and let you know if there are any standout Balic moments to check out.
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I think in that case, both boys would be permanent transfers. Felix is out of contract in the summer and Lucas is out of contract in 2022.
But, I think the context of Harkin’s current role is important for his candidacy for the Celtic gig - his specialty is working with the youth to put them in the best position to succeed and develop, which in turn gives him a pretty extensive knowledge of the squad depths of clubs all around the UK and Europe. I think a lot of those skills are transferable to a DoF position and that he is uniquely positioned to capitalize on opportunities in the domestic transfer market.
Maresca is a youth development specialist at the current moment and I think he’d lean on that experience moving forward. The Man City set up isn’t like a lot of other youth set-ups, it’s a true high-performance program in every sense and I’m sure Maresca would bring that mentality and planning to Celtic as he knows how effective it can be.
These two men are also, I’m sure, quite keen to be successes as their own men in football and not just as Manchester City affiliates.
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@Ryan Well fello Celt, we’ll just have to wait and see how it pans out IF it does become a reality. My own personal opinion is that this stinks of Lawwell’s greasy figures being all over it ( I wouldn’t trust that man as far as I could throw him), with the potential appointments of ‘Harkin & Maresca’ smacking of (as I’ve already stated) a revamped and repackage Dalglish & Barnes mark 2.0 (and we know how that sh%tshow pan out) it will be interesting to see if the majority of my Fello Celts buy into it
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That’s fair enough! Only time will tell, I suppose!
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This is just turning into my own personal Canadian Propaganda Corner.
Last night Canada beat Bermuda 5-1 (it should have been much more lopsided) and there were a few players that I thought you folks might be interested at taking a peek at in a Celtic context.
Liam Millar, who I have talked up before, came on as a substitute in the second half and looked extremely good on the left wing, becoming the driving force of the attack and creating a goal in his 20 minutes on the pitch. He’s currently playing on loan at Charlton from Liverpool.
Theo Corbeanu came on at the same point as Millar and was the recipient of Millar’s great work for the 5th Canadian goal, making a great run from the right wing to the middle of the box to finish a smart cross from in close. He also looked extremely technically proficient, with moves to live up to the flashy boots he was wearing. He’s currently with Wolverhampton Wanderers, mostly with the u-23s.
And finally, Cyle Larin. Larin, who is on fire for Beşiktaş right now, brought his club form with him and bagged a hat-trick while helping create numerous other fantastic opportunities. Had his starting strike partner Lucas Cavallini remembered how to play football last night, he would have had an even more impressive display.
This is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation signing off! 
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This lad may be more of a project.
He looks like he has the technical ability, but he’s showing a tendency to become a bit anonymous if the game isn’t going his way. The last two U-23 matches have been chippy, physical affairs (which typical CONCACAF officiating…yikes) and he looked frustrated and sort of out of ideas.
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