WITH the days racing by and the players gaining fitness, Tony Mowbray’s vision for Celtic is growing clearer. The manager has now had the chance to assess his team in the first friendly of the season against Brisbane Roar and today unveiled his second signing of the season in midfielder Landry NGuemo.
Like his former Nancy team-mate, Marc-Antoine Fortune, the highly-rated midfielder opted for Celtic ahead of several Premiership clubs and the manager believes that he will add quality and depth to the squad.
“We are happy to have Landry on board and he creates competition in a part of the field that we are a little bit lighter in than we were last year, with (Shunsuke) Nakamura and (Paul) Hartley moving on,” said Tony Mowbray.
“It’s a part of the pitch that we needed to add numbers too, he’s a young boy who can come in and increase the competition for places in the side and I am looking forward to working with him and seeing how he gets on.”
The Cameroon internationalist arrives on a season-long loan deal, with Celtic having first option to sign him on a permanent contract at the end of the campaign.
It is a style of transfer that has grown in popularity in recent years and a system that has served Mowbray well during his time in England and he believes will reap similar rewards for Celtic.
“It’s something that we did pretty successfully at West Brom to be fair,” he explained. “It makes sense to me, when you are bringing in players with a view to signing them, it suits everybody.
“You don’t want a player who ultimately, after six months, doesn’t like the culture, the league or finds the language too hard and it works vice versa, for the team.
“If the boy doesn’t settle, if he’s not happy, you are not stuck with a player who has three or four years to run on his contract, so this suits everybody.
“Everything is locked in place, if he’s happy and we are happy we just have to push the button and it’s done. So rather than spending money at the front end you give everyone a chance to make the deal work first.”
Gregor Kyle
