Stoke Boss in Celtic Warning to Striker

MICHAEL ONEILL has come out fighting for his player’s future amid interest from north of the border.

Celtic have been linked with a move for Tyrese Campbell in recent weeks as have their Glasgow rivals. The English forward is in the last six months of his contract with cross border rules meaning either club could snap the player up for a nominal developmental fee this summer.

However, Stoke manager O’Neill has been blunt with the 20-year-old as he mulls over his next move in the game. O’Neill believes the striker would be wasted at Parkhead or Ibrox and the player should stay put in order to get the game time he craves.

“I’ve been very direct with Ty. I believe his future lies here. I think he will certainly get a lot more game time here than possibly at those two clubs. (Celtic and The Rangers).” O’Neill told SunSport.

“And that’s what Ty wants, he wants to play, so that’s a positive.

“Hopefully, we can get something sorted because I believe he has a big future here.

“I believe he can play in any of the front three positions, as he’s shown, particularly in the Huddersfield game, and over time we can develop him into a top-class number nine which he has all the attributes to be.

“But to do that, I think he has to get game time and the best chance of all the clubs mentioned to do that is here, and he’s certainly a player I would like to keep.”

Celtic have been linked with a plethora of forwards in the past two weeks. There will be truth to some of the links as Nicky Hammond and Neil Lennon will have a list of possible targets.

However, it’s all getting a little bit tedious at this point. Campbell is a very raw player at the moment and wouldn’t command a place in the Celtic first team upon arrival. So Michael O’Neil is correct in what he’s saying.

The bhoys have Jonathan Afolabi in developmental and many would like to see the Irishman get a go in the squad before the end of the season.