STUART ARMSTRONG has agreed personal terms with Southampton which will see him earn a basic £40k a week at the Premier League club over the 4 years of his contract.
As we outlined at the weekend he was a middle earner in the Celtic squad – earning around £15k per week, so the difference is significant.
All that remains is for the player – who obviously was not on Celtic’s private charter flight to Austria yesterday – to pass his medical and for the press conference to happen. Celtic sorted out his troublesome groin issue in January to take care of that and the player returned to full fitness as the season drew to a close, so there should be no issues with that.
Armstrong’s style will be suited to Southampton and we can watch his progress on Match of the Day with interest and with a decent sell-on potential down the line then hopefully he attracts interest from clubs in the top half of the Premier League.
And the other notable point is that the fee Celtic will receive will take their income from Southampton to over the £50million mark when you consider the incoming funds from the sales of Victor Wanyama, Fraser Forster, Virgil van Dijk (plus the sell on cash from his big money move to Liverpool) and now the Stuart Armstrong money.
Southampton have down well out of their decision to shop in Glasgow’s east ends where they have discovered real value for money. Each player they have bought from Celtic has been genuine quality, has performed well for their club and there has never been a disappointment.
Armstrong will do just fine for the Saints, and we wish him the very best of luck. And what a brilliant song we are giving their support!
