Former Celtic striker John Hartson has been left bemused at the rumoured price tag for Hoops defender Josip Juranovic.
Rumours centred around the 27-year-olds future have heated up in recent days as Serie A club Monza are reportedly in talks to sign the Croatian international.
The deal is allegedly an initial loan and then an obligation to buy although the fee is said to only be around the £7 million mark which is way short of the £15 million asking price that the Scottish champions where willing to listen to in the summer which should have been boosted by his performance at the Qatar World Cup.
A number of clubs are said to be interested in securing the former Legia Warsaw defenders services including La Liga and English Premier League teams.
It is likely that the Parkhead club would prefer to hold out for an offer that is considerably higher of £7 million as they know there is interest elsewhere.
Juranovic is contracted to Celtic until 2026 meaning that the ball is fully in the Hoops court and it is imperative that there is constant dialogue between them and the player even though it isn’t likely that he will feature in green and white hoops again as Alistair Johnston looks to have settled in well.
Even if that’s the case, former Hoops hero John Hartson believes that his old club should hold firm considering the price tag which Achraf Hakimi went for after leaving Inter Milan to join PSG. Both defenders countries went up against each other in the third place play-off of the World Cup.
“We go back to Juranovic, last week we were talking about £20million. He was one of the best right-backs at the World Cup,” said Hartson on the Go Radio Football Show.
“Hakimi was fantastic. He’s at PSG, probably on £150,000 a week. He was great for Morocco. Juranovic was equally as good, and you are talking £7million. It’s unbelievable.
“I don’t know the structure of the deal, agents fees and blah, blah, blah. I would have thought at least double that. I’m shocked. I’ve listened to some of the comments on social media and Celtic fans can’t believe it.”
If you are selling to a big European club bidding should start at 20 million, an English club 25 million. Recent transfers from Rangers include 16mill for Patterson (a youth player) 22million for Bassey. 7 million for a WC start reaching his peak years are you kidding?