Italian side Sampdoria are weighing up an offer for Celtic’s Ryan Christie. The 26-year-old played 45 minutes in the win over Charlton Athletic yesterday but The Daily Record are reporting that Celtic are aware that the Italians are interested in signing Christie.
Christie was signed from Inverness CT in 2015 with loan spells at ICT as well as Aberdeen before breaking into the Celtic first team. The failure to capture John McGinn from Hibs as well as Stuart Armstrong’s departure opened up a midfield vacancy for Christie that he seized with both hands. It is probably due to the fact that these two players have performed alongside him with Scotland that he reckons that he can hold his own in England or abroad. Crystal Palace have been linked along with Burnley, Nice and Monaco but Sampdoria would offer another prospect for the attacking midfielder to consider.
Sampdoria finished 9th in the Serie A last season but they are looking to strengthen and rebuild ahead of a challenge for the European spaces next year. Christie has scored 40 goals and assisted 41 times in 142 games for Celtic, which is quite an impressive return. The high intensity of Christie’s play has been impressive but the player appears to see his future elsewhere, which is entirely justifiable after a period of success at the club.
The player often came under attack from sections of the support for playing overly flamboyant passes or ambitious shots from range. He is an extremely talented footballer but given his contract situation, Celtic should attempt to maximise the fee for the Scotland Internationalist.