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SOME transfers are destined to hit the ground running.

In the case of the free-scoring Diego Costa at Chelsea, you didn’t need to be the Special One to know how this was likely to play out.

Call a taxi for Fernado Torres and, in a single swoop, swap one the most fragile and forlorn strikers in European football’s elite for one of its most powerful and prolific.

That bit of jiggery pokery may have cost around £32million but it will probably buy Jose Mourinho another title and be marked down as the best bit of business of the season.

At the other end of the scale, there are deals so devoid of sound logic they reek of desperation from the off.

Such as losing one loose cannon in Luis Suarez and immediately rolling out another in Mario Balotelli (albeit an even less stable and more explosively self-indulgent alternative).

This move by Liverpool looked ridiculously risky at the time and now Balotelli has sulked his way through a first Anfield defeat – his huffy indifference undermining the team ethic Suarez so epitomised – the folly is no easier to fathom.

While Costa might make Chelsea champions this season, there is a danger Balotelli will have a wrecking ball effect on all of Brendan Rodgers’s good work.

And, if so, then the Liverpool boss will only have himself to blame for failing to spot the blindingly obvious.

But there has been another piece of transfer market trading done in Britain this summer which, although nowhere near as bold or as brash, is quickly shaping up as one of the smartest one-in-one-outs of the entire window.

Yes, at the time Celtic may have angered some of their own supporters by cashing in on Fraser Forster but the reality is not only were they scooping up £10m from Southampton, they were also handing Ronny Deila an even better goalkeeper. For free.

In fact, had Forster not been sold in the summer then the giant Geordie would probably be testing the integrity of Deila’s bench by now because, quite simply, Craig Gordon provides this team with a safer pair of hands.

Deila can’t claim a great deal of credit for this spectacular bit of ducking and diving as Gordon had pitched up at Lennoxtown before the Norwegian was even a glint in Peter Lawwell’s eye.

The capture of the former Hearts and Sunderland keeper was already a work in progress and Gordon’s work on the training ground had convinced coach Stevie Woods in particular the club had stumbled on to a winner.

Of course, there were doubts over Gordon’s physical condition and maybe even his mental state given the toll of two years spent battling a career-threatening knee problem.

The general suspicion was this outstanding talent – whose reflex save from Bolton’s Zat Knight was voted the greatest save by any keeper in 20 years of the English Premier League – had become permanently damaged goods. But Woods was smart enough to know better.

Gordon had been cut down in his prime on Wearside, first by two broken arms and then by the knee surgery that drove him so close to giving up the game.

He washed up as a coach at Dumbarton and trained for a while at Rangers but the longer he stayed out of the firing line, the less likely it seemed he would ever return.

Which is why his sudden resurgence at Celtic has been such an eye-catching and heart-warming affair. Not that sentiment has any part in it because Gordon is there on merit and performing as if he has never been away.

Not only has his handling been immaculate but there is a calm assurance about him that was evident again on Saturday when Celtic were beginning to wobble at home to Aberdeen.

He commands his penalty area in a way Forster – despite his Cow Pie physique – never quite seemed able to do. At the weekend, Gordon was plucking the kind of crosses out of the air Forster used to stand waving at, often as panic ensued all around.

And that’s not meant to sound churlish either as there is no doubt Forster is one of England’s finest goalkeepers. But Gordon at his very best is just that bit better and it’s no surprise the 31-year-old is back in Gordon Strachan’s Scotland squad .

So yes, Deila landed lucky by inheriting this particular player and on Thursday night in Austria Celtic’s manager will be banking on this renaissance man once again.

(Image: SNS Group / Craig Williamson)

Red Bull Salzburg might sound like a Saturday night binge drink but this lot are more than capable of causing Deila another monstrous European headache which is the last thing he needs right now.

These first few weeks in the job have been a rowdy, largely unedifying experience for the Scandinavian.

He went into Saturday on the back of a winless four-game streak and if that run had been extended by Aberdeen’s visit then the grumbling uncertainty around Deila might have become a bit of an angry clamour.

While it is of course early days in their fledging Celtic careers, the jury remains out on other recent arrivals Jo Inge Berget, Wakaso Mubarak, Stefan Scepovic and Aleksandar Tonev, whose debut on Saturday would have been wholly forgettable had it not been for subsequent allegations of racist remarks.

Claims which, if proven, will provide Deila with another serious difficulty.

In fact, if what Shay Logan says is true then Tonev might find his time here is up before it has even begun because Celtic – still in the midst of a similar probe into Leigh Griffiths – can do without any more liabilities.

What Deila needs is men upon whom he can hang his hat and Gordon is undoubtedly one of them. Scott Brown, who returned from injury at typically breakneck speed on Saturday, is another.

Brown’s energy, enthusiasm and drive have been badly missed by Celtic’s midfield. It was no coincidence that when he ran out of steam towards the end of the first half and again midway through the second, that Aberdeen enjoyed their most dangerous spells.

Which of course was when Gordon came to Deila’s rescue.

Now the manager must ready himself for another chartered flight towards the unknown. So long as there are seats on the plane for both Gordon and Brown then Deila has half a chance.