CELTIC are looking to build a strong working relationship with the Ukrainian club who sold us their star player in the January transfer window.
When the then Celtic manager Rodgers first mentioned Maryan Shved as a Celtic target he gave the game away in the way he detached himself from the move – a tell tale sign if ever there was one that he was for the off.
Shved duly signed and was immediately loaned back to Karpaty Lviv so that he could see out the Ukrainian season which finishes towards the end of this month. He’ll then travel to Glasgow to join up with his new team-mates.
Shved scored an impressive hat-trick last weekend and certainly looks like being an exciting prospect.
Maryan Shved’s hat-trick for Karpaty Lviv today, scored in a 4-0 league win over Vorskla Poltava. pic.twitter.com/Oe0DJr9rMI
— The Grand Auld Podcast (@FritzAGrandAuld) February 24, 2019
Now Karpaty Lviv’s Director General, Oleg Smaliychuk has revealed that he had a much higher offer on the table for the winger but decided to allow the player himself to choose where he wanted to go. And the club boss reckons that this decision could be the start of a productive on-going relationship with the Glasgow giants.
“Representatives of Celtic are watching him and they will come to Ukraine soon to visit us,’ Oleg stated.
“We are hoping to start a cooperation between our clubs and establish a link.
“Maryan will be at our club for as long as we need him this season. If the season ends early for us and there is nothing to play for, then of course he will go to Scotland sooner.
“We want him to be successful in Scotland and the longer time he gets to adapt to his life at Glasgow, the better.
“The truth is we could have got more money by selling Maryan to another club. We had official offers from three clubs and the biggest bid was from a club that offered £500,000 more than Celtic. A big European club.
“Despite the speculation, Dynamo Kiev did not make an offer. But I believe the player deserves the right to choose his career and nobody forced him into accepting the bigger offer.
“In the end, he told us he wanted to move to Celtic. And we were happy to conclude the transfer, even if we could have earned more money.”
