Celtic have been told that they will need to pay €6m Euros to sign Croatian U21 defender, Mario Vuskovic. The 19-year-old was reportedly the subject of a bid from Celtic last week, believed to be in the region of €5m Euros; however, Hajduk Split rejected that bid.
#HajdukSplit have rejected an official bid of €5M from #Celtic for the croatian centre back Mario #Vuskovic (born in 2001). #Torino are also interested in him and #Napoli have asked info last January. #transfers
— Nicolò Schira (@NicoSchira) April 23, 2021
With that said, Italian media outlet Tuttomercatoweb has said that it will take just 1m Euros more to sign the promising defender. Celtic may be unwilling to part with this fee at this stage, given there is no manager at the club, but Vuskovic’s price tag will likely continue to grow.
The player, who has made 27 appearances this year, is being scouted by Serie A side Torino and Celtic will likely face more competition for his signature. With such a promising career ahead of him, Celtic may look to poach Vuskovic now in his formative years before he progresses beyond the budget of the Parkhead side.
Vuskovic was part of the Croatia side that knocked out England in the U21s Euros group stages and he will likely take part against Spain in the next round. An impressive defensive performance could increase the fee demanded by Split so Celtic should act swiftly, perhaps imparting to the youngster who the future manager will be as well as their reputation for cultivating talent.
Celtic have poached a centre back from Croatia before, taking Jozo Šimunović to Glasgow from the Croatian capital of Zagreb. The Croatian defender joined from Dinamo Zagreb in 2015 following Virgil Van Dijk’s departure for Southampton. Šimunović will be remembered for that tackle on Kenny Miller in the 5-1 win at Ibrox in April 2017 and he left the club having won five Premiership titles and a number of trophies as well.
