LUBOMIR MORAVCIK has offered to help former club Celtic in their attempts to source and sign young overseas talent ahead of Europe’s elite. Manager Ronny Deila has identified Eastern Europe as a viable marketplace for Celtic, a region that is both affordable and accessible for the Scottish champions. Locating possible signing targets ahead of clubs from the leading leagues of England, France, Spain, Germany and Italy, however, is proving increasingly difficult, with every major side deploying a network of scouts all around the world.
Moravcik hopes, though, to offer his old club a helping hand from his base in his native Slovakia where he is once more working as a football agent. The former playmaker, who spent four seasons at Celtic Park from 1998 to 2002, met with chief executive Peter Lawwell at Celtic’s recent Europa League match against Fenerbahce in Istanbul and believes he can be a useful conduit to help steer promising teenagers away from the bigger clubs and towards Celtic instead. He did acknowledge, however, that beating the competition to a new signing is harder now than ever before.
“I have spoken to Peter about maybe helping the club in the future,” he said on a return visit to Scotland that included making the quarter-final draw for the William Hill Scottish Cup. “He knows I am always ready for Celtic. I have known him a long time and I can help find players for Celtic if we can find a way to work together.
"I work for a bigger agency in Slovakia now. There is more money to invest and I spoke to Peter. I told him that I can be used for this part of Europe but it is hard to find the very best players.
"With the money that Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich have, how can you compete and get these players at 16? It's impossible. Even in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, the best teenagers are already with the biggest clubs. But Celtic do have a chance of getting players who are between 18 and 21.
"They are not the biggest talents but there are good players who are ready for a step to Europe. Celtic can provide that for them. They can provide a stepping stone for these players.
"They are not ready for the biggest clubs. They are not like Martin Odegaard going to Real Madrid. But they could do well at Celtic. There are a lot of players who could go through Celtic to somewhere else in Europe. The wages are affordable. The transfer fees are not high and it is possible to get these players. Celtic can give them European football, they can give them big games under pressure in front of a lot of fans.”
Moravcik knows that Celtic cannot compete financially with clubs in England as they could during his time in Scotland but felt that, given the new champions-only qualifying route, it was not unrealistic to expect his old club to reach the group stage of the Champions League most seasons.
“It's Celtic's duty to be in the Champions League every year,” he added. "If you play against a team like Sion, you have to go through. That's true. Celtic will never win the Champions League, to go through from the groups is very hard. But to qualify, finish third and qualify for the Europa League knock-out stage is possible. That must be the objective for Celtic.
“They should be able to do that. Sometimes there will be bad luck. But Celtic fans must expect the Champions League every year. You have to have that and it is possible. This year they were 3-1 up against Malmo, made a mistake and it changed the tie. They were comfortable and then it changed. Psychologically it's hard and that was down to one mistake. The players must concentrate more.”
Some of Moravcik’s former Celtic team-mates, including John Hartson and Chris Sutton, have been critical of Deila and of the way his side has performed this season. The Slovak admits he has not seen enough of the team to comment but felt that the stiff competition provided by Aberdeen should be cherished by supporters rather than feared.
“I do know that Celtic have lost a couple of games in a row but they are still top of the league with a game in hand,” he added. "There is nothing wrong. It's a small crisis. Look at Manchester United and Chelsea struggling in England with Leicester top of the league.
“It's good for English football and I think it's good for Scotland that Aberdeen are challenging. It's good that someone is close to Celtic. The players will now be saying, ‘We have to concentrate and go forward’. If Celtic were 20 points ahead like PSG are in France it would be boring. It is better that Aberdeen are close.”
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