Celtic 'coming to terms' with losing crucial player as ex-Rangers star advises club away from Liverpool link
A roundup of the latest Celtic and Rangers transfer news for the weekend.
The Scottish Premiership has returned in full force and there is still time left for clubs to make changes to their teams this transfer window. Business will be closed at the end of the month so Celtic and Rangers have until then to bring in new signing and either offload transfer-listed players or fight to keep them on the books.
Celtic ‘coming to terms’ with star exit
The rumours surrounding Matt O’Riley’s future have been some of the main talking points of the summer as clubs in the Premier League and beyond continue to circle the midfielder. After scoring 19 goals across all competitions and contributing a further 18 assists, O’Riley has been the target of several teams, including West Ham, Brighton and Chelsea.
According to Football Insider, Celtic will now find it ‘very hard to reject’ the asking price of £25 million they have set for the midfielder. Reporter Pete O’Rourke has claimed that the Hoops are ‘coming to terms’ with the likelihood of them losing O’Riley this summer.
The Hoops had originally been looking for £30 million for the sale of the 23-year-old but they are now likely to accept £5 million less in what will match the current Scottish transfer record.
Ex-Rangers star issues verdict on Liverpool link
Rangers have been linked with a move for Liverpool’s Bobby Clark, following confirmation of interest from the Liverpool Echo’s Paul Gorst. In a conversation with RedMenTV, Gorst said both Glasgow sides and a number of EFL Championship teams are monitoring the 19-year-old’s current situation.
However, ex-Rangers midfielder Derek Ferguson believes his former side should be looking at focusing on the growth of their own academy players, rather than cherry-picking those in another league.
“We seem to get linked with a few of these guys at Liverpool since Steven Gerrard was manager,” he told Ibrox News. “I don’t know too much about the boy, obviously he’s a talented player. But I think sometimes we’ve got to look at our own academy. We’ve got enough talent here.
“[And] we’re starting to get the youngsters in where we can hopefully make them better with that sell-on value.”