{"id":629920,"date":"2026-06-09T21:19:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T21:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/629920\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T21:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T21:19:14","slug":"celtic-give-martin-oneill-mega-transfer-kitty-as-first-signing-by-boss-hits-hurdle-amid-4-player-exodus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/629920\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtic ‘give’ Martin O’Neill mega transfer kitty as first signing by boss hits hurdle amid 4 player exodus"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Parkhead icon is set to be unveiled as boss in Glasgow’s east end for the upcoming season<\/p>\n

(Image: SNS Group)<\/p>\n

Frank McAvennie has heard whispers the Celtic board will hand a \u00a340million transfer war chest to Martin O’Neill<\/a> on his return to the dugout.<\/p>\n

The Parkhead icon lifted the Premiership and Scottish Cup last term, and veteran gaffer O’Neill has held talks with Dermot Desmond to become permanent Celtic<\/a> boss for a second time by signing a one-year contract.<\/a><\/p>\n

While the club have yet to formally announce the contract – with Robbie Keane the other contender for the hot seat – McAvennie claims that big money will be handed to the 74-year-old to boost the squad.<\/p>\n

Speaking on his ‘Let Me Be Frank’ <\/a>podcast, he said: “I heard \u00a340million [for how much he is going to have to spend]. I think there is a lot of players they need to get rid of. I know you are going to be losing money on some of them, but even if you get them out and get the wages.”<\/p>\n

Going on to name the players he reckons will be moved on, he said: “I think the boy [Michel-Ange] Balikwisha<\/a> has got to leave, because I don’t think he is going to get a game. Maybe this boy Balikwisha will leave Celtic and be outstanding.<\/p>\n

“I think [Arne] Engels will stay, I think [Benjamin] Nygren will go, [Daizen] Maeda will go and [Reo] Hatate will go. That’s my opinion.”<\/p>\n

Record Sport revealed last month that the Hoops were on alert for RB Salzburg misfit Bobby Clark,<\/a> as he returns to Austria from his loan spell at Derby County.<\/p>\n

\"Bobby<\/p>\n

Bobby Clark is in the middle of a loan spell with Derby County(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Salzburg are expected to green light a cut-price departure for the former Liverpool starlet, and reports in Austria claim Clark has “sparked interest” from new sporting director Marcus Mann.<\/p>\n

He is keen to cut the club’s wage bill, viewing the 21-year-old’s permanent departure as a way to slash expenses before spending in the summer.<\/p>\n

But if O’Neill is to land the player as one of his first signings he faces a battle.<\/p>\n

The Derby Telegraph<\/a> state “at least half-a-dozen clubs” are “keen” on the playmaker.<\/p>\n

Clark is under contract with the Salzburg for another three seasons, and West Ham are now credited with an interest following Premier League relegation.<\/p>\n

Get Daily Record Premium for just \u00a31 per month in an exclusive offer to celebrate the World Cup. Click HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Get more Daily Record exclusives by signing up for free to Google\u2019s preferred sources. Click HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tune in to Hotline Live<\/a> every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport’s newest podcast, Game On<\/a>, every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bitesize chunks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Parkhead icon is set to be unveiled as boss in Glasgow’s east end for the upcoming season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[53217,149934,2817,18667,35119,66542,59,30905,13404,32195,107294,8058,101,2719,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-629920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-arne-engels","tag-bobby-clark","tag-celtic-fc","tag-celtic-transfer-news","tag-daizen-maeda","tag-frank-mcavennie","tag-gb","tag-martin-oneill","tag-michel-ange-balikwisha","tag-reo-hatate","tag-robbie-keane","tag-scottish-premiership","tag-sports","tag-transfer-talk","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}