Football Insider has claimed Celtic have made contact with Southampton about their price for Mohamed Elyounoussi. I’d take any report with a pinch of salt.

Right now, in the thick of the season, it’s very unlikely Celtic have reached out to talk about a player who hasn’t even played a full half season yet. Yes, Mohamed has hit the ground running but not so much that Celtic would look to blow any negotiating position they may want to have in the future by looking desperate to land the midfielder.

The website claims Celtic have been told it would cost £10m to bag Elyounoussi, which also doesn’t seem correct from where we’re sitting.

Let’s say Celtic did ask, for arguments sake – what Premier League club is going to take that request on board and happily concede they’d take less for Mohamed than they actually signed the player for which according to the BBC is around £16m.

If there was any talk of fees, this would have come up in loan negotiations before bringing the player into the club.

What are the facts of the transfer?

  • We have him on loan for the season.
  • There’s no January get out clause.
  • There’s no formal fee in place to sign the player permanently.

Another point on this would be Mohamed’s Southampton wage packet, which before bonuses, is a whopping £60kpw according to Sportrac. There’s no way Celtic have had talks with the player about wages, to then go to Southampton and ask a fee so soon.

We have been an advocate of Celtic fans not getting overly obsessed with Mohame’s future and focus on the present. The loan deal shows the kind of savvy Celtic should continue to use going forward in order to bolster their squad on a season by season basis.

2 COMMENTS

  1. You are correct about the likelihood of the story being itself speculation however regards his valuation:

    His valuation of £16 million was the valuation of Southampton who are a part of the massively inflated English Prem market. The reality of his failure there means he is not of interest to that market any longer. Why then would Southampton expect his valuation to remain the same?

    More so, such is the nature of the Prem market, it is common practice for players to be bought (by Southampton and others), fail to adapt and then only 12, 18 or 24 months later be sold for a significantly lower valuation.

    For example Manolo Gabbiadini at 25 years old – purchased for £15 million. When sold two years later no buyers in the Prem market and as such sold for £10 million- a 33% reduction in value.

    A 33% reduction in Elyounoussi value would be around £11 million.

  2. Quoting Football Insider… .. . . . .

    I’ve blocked them on my newsnow feed for a reason.

    They print nothing but utter shite. They must be related to the other bastion of click bait HITC, which i have also blocked.

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