Two years ago Celtic opted to sign Boli Bolingoli from Rapid Vienna (of all clubs) as the ready-made replacement for Kieran Tierney for a fee of around £3m. In doing so they passed up on an opportunity to sign, Romain Perraud from OGC Nice, for around half that sum.
Neil Lennon had travelled to Paris in April 2019 to scout the left-back who that season was on loan from Nice at second division French side FC Paris. The then Celtic manager took in the Paris v Valenciennes match and Perraud played well in the goalless draw.
By end June 2019 Celtic had spent £7m on Christopher Jullien from strugglers Toulouse and according to reports in the French media were in pole position to sign Perraud. While Celtic were interested the player’s wage demands were apparently a bit on the steep side so instead the club opted for the more expensive option of buying Boli Bolingoli, presumably paying him less than the French left-back was after.
Jump ahead to today and Celtic will have the pressure of Bolingoli’s company again over the next few weeks but you’d imagine he’s not really going to have a future at the club after the significant role he played in starting the ball rolling for such a terrible season last year.
But what of the player Celtic didn’t sign? Instead of joining Celtic he moved to Brest on the West Coast of France and is now likely to be moving on again with at least three English Premier League clubs looking to sign the attack minded left back this summer.
On Friday L’Équipe reported that the 23-year-old Brest left-back Romain Perraud will be joining a Premier League club this summer, with Southampton leading Leeds United and Newcastle United in the race to land the ex-OGC Nice and Paris FC man, who could and could have been a Celtic player.
Perraud, scored 3 goals and had 7 assists in Ligue 1 this season, is expected to fetch at least €10m, if not closer to €15m, for Brest. After 2 years at Brest, where he is under contract until June 2025, Perraud is closer to a Southampton who have an excellent relationship with Brest following their acquisition of Ibrahima Diallo last summer.
Southampton have been in contact with the player since January and hope to close the deal in the coming days.
