Chris Sutton Challenges Brendan Rodgers Over £70m Deal

CHRIS SUTTON has reiterated his stance on English Premier League clubs trying to land SPFL talent on the cheap when the money floating about down south is mental.

The Englishman cites Leicester’s Ben Chilwell and Crystal Palace star Wan-Bassaka.

Chilwell is linked with a £70m move from the King Power and Wan-Bissaka is on his way to Old Trafford for over £50m. While Sutton believes they are both good talents, the prices they are going for suggest they are three and four times the player that Kieran Tierney is with Arsenal putting in a £15m bid followed by a £17.5m bid. Sutton KNOWS that’s not the case and Kieran Tierney is just as good as the players going for big money.

Do Arsenal really want Kieran? It doesn’t look like it!

Chris painted an interesting scenario which could manifest in the next month with regards to Kieran Tierney. If Leicester lose Chilwell for around £70m, Brendan Rodgers will need to bring in a new left back and while he was at Celtic he always advocated and even told the board not to sell their talent on the cheap. The BT Pundit is intrigued to see if Rodgers goes for Kieran, how much was just bluster or if the Irishman was all talk, like when he told us how much he was a Celtic supporter.

Citing an example of Celtic not getting enough for one of their stars Sutton picks out Dembele’s transfer worth now on his Record Sport Column: “Moussa Dembele. Sure he was trying to force a move, yet Celtic took less than £20m for him.

“Now if you want to buy Dembele after he’s had one season in France with Lyon, it’ll cost you £35m or £40m.

“In less than 12 months he’s not doubled his talent yet his price has doubled.

“Brendan Rodgers was the one who made it crystal clear a player should be judged on his talents alone and not the environment where he plays.

“This was coming about during the Dembele saga during his first year.

“I’ll be absolutely fascinated to see what Rodgers would bid for Tierney if he gets his £70m for Chilwell.

“That will prove once and for all whether he was talking honestly or talking bluster.

“If he wanted Tierney to replace Chilwell, he’d want to be offering a great deal more than Arsenal are offering if he’s true to his word. Same goes for Callum McGregor if Rodgers wants to try to get a hold of the Celtic man.

“Don’t get me wrong here. I completely understand that there is a portion which gets taken off a price when buying a player from Scotland.