Malnourished Celtic flounder yet again, Rangers spend big and Hibs miss out - transfer deadline day analysis

After weeks of manager Brendan Rodgers saying he wants new players to reinvigorate his squad, he got one more on Monday. At 11.18pm, Celtic announced the signing of Tunisian winger Sebastian Tounekti on a five-year deal after finally thrashing out a deal believed to be worth over £5 million with Swedish club Hammarby.

In addition to the arrival of Michel-Ange Balikwisha last week for a similar fee from Antwerp, Celtic do have some depth out wide. They did not sell Yang Hyun-jun to Birmingham City despite sustained interest, although Belgian side Genk - whose deadline day is on September 8 - are sniffing about.

Striker Adam Idah’s move to Swansea was eventually rubber-stamped by the Celtic hierarchy and he left for £6m. The problem is that as the window closed, Celtic did not have a replacement.

They went into Monday hoping to land Kasper Dolberg from Anderlecht for upwards of £8m, only for his formative club Ajax to come in with a hijack job on loan after they sold Bryan Brobbey to Sunderland. Who next on the dwindling list? Reports suggest an attempt was made to sign Chelsea’s David Datro Fofana, but that failed too.

And as the clock ticked down to 11pm, a blast from the past emerged: Kelechi Iheanacho. Remember him? Celtic tried to sign him back in January on loan from Sevilla, only for the Nigerian 28-year-old to choose Middlesbrough instead. Well, the La Liga side released him late on Monday night and he is heavily touted to be reunited with Rodgers, who had him at Leicester City. Now a free agent, that deal can be done at any time.

Celtic left short at No 9

This won’t be of much comfort to Celtic fans, who have become heavily critical of the board for not backing Rodgers properly. They paid the price by not qualifying for the Champions League and right now, their No 9 options are a woefully out-of-form Daizen Maeda and two untried strikers in Johnny Kenny, 22, who has scored two goals for Celtic, and Shin Yamada, a 25-year-old Japanese who was bought for £1.3m from Kawasaki Frontale.

These are not the options Rodgers or the fanbase craved. Back in January, they had Kyogo Furuhashi and Idah. The drop-off in quality up front is galling for club of Celtic’s size and stature, with more than £50m of cash reserves. Their frontline remains malnourished.

Earlier in the window, Scotland defender Kieran Tierney arrived on a free, while the signing of Benjamin Nygren from Nordsjaelland for £1.3m looks decent business. Goalkeeper Ross Doohan and defenders Marcelo Saracchi, Hyato Inamura and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey have also signed, although none of them appear to be starters.

Rangers were certainly the busier of the two Glasgow clubs on deadline day. There has been a radical overhaul of the Ibrox dressing room since head coach Russell Matin arrived with the backing of new owners. They have not scrimped like their Old Firm counterparts. A cheque to the tune of £8 million was signed for Everton’s 21-year-old Portuguese forward Youssef Chermiti, who will compete with Bojan Miovski for the No 9 jersey.

Marseille’s left-sided Canadian defender Derek Cornelius also arrived on loan, while the club said goodbye to Cyriel Dessers for £3.5m. The Nigerian has moved to Panathinaikos after two tumultuous seasons at Ibrox. Midfielder Connor Barron could have joined him out the exit door after Bologna made a late bid, but Rangers weren’t for selling.

There was some speculation that another midfielder might leave. After all, Nicolas Raskin was left out of the matchday squad for the game against Celtic at the weekend amid reports of a strained relationship with Martin. However, he will report back to Ibrox after going on international duty with Belgium. A bit of good man-management is likely to be required.

Martin now has to mesh this squad together - and fast

Martin has been waiting for the window to close for some time. He wants to work with players who are “all in”. He certainly has enough of his own recruits - Max Aarons, Nasser Djiga, Emmanuel Fernandez, Jayden Meghoma, Cornelius, Joe Rothwell, Lyall Cameron, Thelo Aasgaard, Djeidi Gassama, Oliver Antman, Mikey Moore, Miovski and Chermiti.

If - and right now, it is a big if - Martin can get this Rangers squad meshed together, they will feel there is no reason why the current six-point gap with Celtic cannot be bridged. But winless from their first four matches in the Premiership, swift improvement will be required for Martin to win back the supporters, many of whom are not happy with him at the helm.

Across the M8, it was a quiet day at Tynecastle. Hearts sit joint top of the Premiership and they completed the crux of their transfer business earlier in the window with the assistance of Jamestown Analytics.

Their club record fee was smashed last week with the signing of 23-year-old Brazilian midfielder Ageu. Eleven new players have arrived in total - Alexander Schwolow, Stuart Findlay, Christian Borchgrevink, Oisin McEntee, Tomas Magnussen, Sabah Kerjota, Pierre Kabore, Alexandros Kyziridis and Claudio Braga, while Elton Kabangu’s loan from last season has been made permanent.

The only activity of note on Monday was the departure of forward Musa Drammeh to Torrense, who play in Portugal’s second tier. Head coach Derek McInnes will need to manage what is a bloated squad until January, with senior players such as Calem Nieuwenhof and Sander Kartum not even able to get into the matchday group.

With so much ammunition, plus the momentum of a good start to the season, Hearts will fancy their chances of a sustained run at the top of the league. New investor Tony Bloom spoke of winning the Premiership within the next ten years, and potentially splitting the Old Firm this term. What has happened over the past month in Glasgow may give the Lizard some renewed optimism ...

Hibs fail in their pursuit of Dykes

Hibs wanted to land another striker and pushed hard for Lyndon Dykes, only for the loan deal with Birmingham to fall at the final hurdle. The Scotland striker will remain at St Andrew’s, as will Elie Youan at Easter Road. The Frenchman was in talks with Legia Warsaw but they could not agree terms either. The only arrival is Dan Barlaser, a 28-year-old midfielder from Middlesbrough, who has agreed a loan move that is expected to be announced on Tuesday morning.

Hibs have still done good work in the window, breaking their club record fee by signing striker Thibault Klidje from Luzern, while midfielders Miguel Chaiwa, Josh Mulligan and Jamie McGrath have come in. Scotland defender Grant Hanley also arrived on a free.

At the foot of the table, Aberdeen fans needed some good news going into the autumn. They are pointless and goalless so far in the Premiership. While crowd favourite Shayden Morris was sold to Luton on deadline day, another one of last season’s Scottish Cup winning-squad returned in the shape of Kevin Nisbet. He was also followed in by a late loan deal for Bologna’s Swedish attacking midfielder Jesper Karlsson, who once commanded a £10m transfer fee.

In slightly smaller sums, the Dons have shelled out roughly £300,000 to Millwall for Nisbet, landing him on a three-year deal. Given the inauspicious start by another new forward in Kusini Yengi, Aberdeen fans will be glad to have him back. Serbian hitman Marko Lazetic came in from AC Milan earlier in the window. With manager Jimmy Thelin staring at a wretched league record of five wins in 30 games, he needs his frontline to fire quickly.

Dundee United have started the season well and after assembling a squad from all over the globe with 12 new signings, they sat back on deadline day and watched the action all unfold. Their manager Jim Goodwin is happy with his lot.

St Mirren went into Monday looking for a pacey striker and they got one bang on 11pm when Bolton Wanderers’ Dan Nlundulu arrived from Bolton Wanderers. Playmaker Oisin Smith went the other way earlier in the day to Partick Thistle.

Motherwell land Celtic defender

Motherwell capped off an exceptionally busy transfer window with their 12th and final arrival in Celtic defender Stephen Welsh, a ball-playing centre-half who should fit nicely into Jens Berthel Askou’s team.

Livingston were the most efficient Premiership club on deadline day, announcing two Premier League loan signings before any of their rivals got deals over the line. David Martindale has brought in 21-year-old West Ham right-back Junior Robinson and 20-year-old Manchester City midfielder Mahamadou Susoho for the season. Miles Welch-Hayes, who made just three appearances in two years with the Lions, has left the club by mutual consent.

Falkirk signed 20-year-old Swansea defender Filip Lissah on a season-long loan, and they were more active than Dundee and Kilmarnock, who left the heavy lifting to others.

There is still the free-agent market to scour for these Premiership clubs, but this is what all 12 clubs by in large have to go with until the new year. Sit back and enjoy the ride.