BOBO BALDE has arrived in Holland ready to play for Celtic in tonight's game against Spurs.
BOBO BALDE has arrived in Holland ready to play for Celtic in tonight's game against Spurs.
While he has been warmly welcomed in their base camp on the coast, the Parkhead club fervently hope it will be his last appearance in a green and white jersey.
More and more, the giant defender appears to hold the key to the arrival of much-needed new faces at the club.
His £28,000-per-week wage was expected to be have been freed up by now after the Guinean held talks with Sunderland about a move south.
He has been given a mandate to arrange his own exit and Celtic will waive any transfer fee just to unburden themselves of the £1.1m Balde stands to receive from them if he remains on the pay roll for the remaining 10 months of his contract.
With Birmingham and Norwich waiting in the wings, Balde has declined to sever his ties with Celtic just yet as he attempts to secure the contract he believes he needs at this stage.
Manager Gordon Strachan must now decide if he puts Balde back in the shop window here in Rotterdam tonight. A good performance against Spurs and, if he is still here, Feyenoord on Sunday, could help attract the kind of offers the big defender wants. But, of course, if he did not show up well - and the games are being beamed across Europe - the move could back-fire spectacularly.
Behind the scenes, Celtic continue to work hard to line up potential new recruits.
They remain in negotiation with Auxerre over the purchase of central defender Gabriel Tamas, and further talks to try and finalise the £3.7m deal are scheduled to resume again later today.
The Parkhead club are also trying to lure experienced left-back Paul Robinson from West Brom, while the discussions to convince Barcelona to allow 20-year-old midfielder Marc Crosas to Celtic Park on a year-long loan are also on-going.
But, if there was some resolution to the long-running Balde departure saga, the situation regarding incoming players would get a boost.
Despite the club posting very healthy profits for the last 18 months, and qualifying again for direct access to this season's Champions League, the need to keep within a defined budget remains.
That includes retaining a sustainable wage-to-income ratio, something the club have worked very hard to reduce from it's near 60% of the pre-Gordon Strachan era.
Loan signings - though still requiring a substantial outlay - are one effective way of keeping the budget in check.
The success of Georgios Samaras last season underlined how this can work, with the club moved to take up their option of a full transfer for £1.2m.
But Strachan would prefer to recruit men such as Tamas on three or four-year deals.
