Celtic reportedly made a late bid worth around £7 million for Ognjen Ugrešić, only for Partizan Belgrade to reject the offer after already giving their “word” to PAOK.

Partizan president Rasim Ljajić has now revealed that Celtic did offer more money than Greg Taylor’s side for the central midfielder.

The difference between the two offers was around just €500,000, but the Serbian side chose not to break their previous agreement with PAOK.

Ljajić said via Mozzart Sport: “It is true that Celtic came forward and offered more than PAOK, that 500,000 euros difference would mean a lot to us, in the situation Partizan is in, because in the current circumstances it is a significant amount of money.

“We gave our word to the people from PAOK and for no moment did we want to damage the fraternal relations between the clubs, which for us is much more important than the profit we would make from the potential transfer of Ugrešić to Scotland.”

🚨 PAOK are closing in on a major deal for Partizan captain Ognjen Ugrešić. 🇷🇸

The 20 year old Serbian midfielder is set to join for a fee exceeding €8m. Ugrešić, regarded as one of Serbia’s top young talents, has 13 goals in 63 appearances for Partizan. ⚫⚪🦅

[Gazzetta]… pic.twitter.com/rkC7LcK2tD

— Hellas Football (@HellasFooty) August 25, 2026

The comments provide a detailed answer for why Celtic were unable to seal the deal despite offering more money to Partizan.

The Hoops have been working through a number of midfield targets during the closing days of the window, and Ugrešić was reportedly one of the players they were prepared to spend a decent amount on.

An offer around £7 million would also have ranked him among the most expensive Celtic signings this summer.

Ljajić’s answer makes clear that Celtic did not lowball Partizan. Instead, the Hoops offered a fee the Serbian club would have accepted, but the timing of the bid worked against them.

That means Ugrešić will join PAOK in Greece alongside Greg Taylor. However, the Greek side exited the Conference League last night after losing 4-3 on aggregate to Brann.

It is yet another example of Celtic taking too long to seal a deal or make a bid, and once again they have lost out on a target after failing to be proactive.