FRENCH Champions League side Lille are set to test Celtic’ resolve with a £5million bid for Croatian central defender Jozo Simunovic.
Jozo yesterday discovered that his reckless tackle against ST Galien in the pre-season friendly in Switzerland, which was picked up by VAR, has resulted in a two match domestic suspension at the the start of the season.
But that could be transferred to French football if the bid from the French side, who recently paid Paris Saint Germain around £9million for former Celtic loanee Timothy Weah, is successful.
Incidentally while some have been quick to criticise the authorities for this suspension, the facts are that VAR was used in this game and everyone was aware of it. Jozo’s above head height tackle was reckless and was fully deserving of a red card. The Swiss FA duly reported it to their Scottish counterparts and the ban was imposed.
Okay Celtic lose out because of this but the core problem was Jozo’s mad tackle. Our Assistant Manager John Kennedy had his playing career destroyed by a tackle in a friendly. And we’ll get more from VAR than against us in the long run.
Neil Lennon is keen to keep Simunovic at Celtic but realises that every player has his price. Jozo joined Celtic from Dinamo Zagreb for a fee or around £4million in 2015 but his time at the club has frequently been interrupted by injury.
He seemed to be falling down the pecking order under Brendan Rodgers who preferred the loanee from Leicester City Filip Benkovic. But after Neil Lennon took over the job at the end of February Simunovic became a first pick alongside Kristoffer Ajer.
The arrival of Christopher Jullien and the re-emergence of Nir Bitton as a central defender gives Lennon options, as does the imminent arrival of another Israeli, centre half come right back Hatem Abd Elhamed.
There is also the possibility that Lennon might accept an offer for Jozo and go to Leicester to sign his fellow Croatian former teammate Benkovic, if he is not going to be part of our former manager’s plan at Leicester.
While Celtic, the Champions of Scotland, are having to go through 8 (EIGHT) qualifying games to reach the Champions League Group stages, Lille, due to their high finish in Ligue 1 last season, progress straight into the lucrative stages of the competition. Something just not right about all of that.
But if Lille do meet Celtic’s valuation then you would expect Lille to get their man. That’s how it seems to work, right? The Scottish Sun have reported on this story tonight.
