As with a lot of transfer speculation, most of it comes from the mouths of agents rather than the clubs themselves – after all relationships with journalists are mutually beneficial given most football clubs and the players themselves will rarely enter into dialogue directly. And the rumoured Celtic interest in KAA Gent defender Joseph Okumu looks exactly that – using a link to Celtic to encourage other clubs to make their moves.
In the case of the Kenyan international central defender Celtic were interested in the player – last summer – when he was with Elfsborg, and before he was transferred to Gent for £3.15m.
His agent as reported in People Daily and subsequently picked up in the UK has been quoted as saying:
“We have had informal interests from English side Arsenal and Scottish giants Celtic. But, German side Borussia Dortmund is the first side to make an official inquiry about the central defender who is open to a move if a proper agreement is reached.”
And he’s unlikely to be telling porkies, but it’s likely he’s omitting just when Celtic were interested in the player. The window for this player to have been a reasonable target for Celtic closed last summer. That was the time Celtic could have pounced if they had wished to.
Now having made the trip from Scandinavia to the Belgian Jupiler League, and having performed well, the player’s value sky rockets, meaning other clubs ‘linked’ such as Dortmund and Arsenal are the ones with the financial clout to be able to offer the transfer fee for the player Gent would want – no doubt in excess of £10m – and the wages the defender will no doubt be asking for – likely too rich for Celtic.
There was in intermediate step required for Okumu to make and after a year with Gent that step was made. Now he’s proven in Scandinavia and in Belgium, Celtic are not a destination likely for Okumu, instead it seems his agent is using Celtic’s name as leverage to smoke out the likes of Dortmund and Arsenal into making a bid.
Celtic didn’t necessarily lose out to Gent last summer, it’s likely instead that Cameron-Carter Vickers and the option to buy loan deal seemed a better fit, but after we did the next step for Okumu after Gent was always going to be one of the big five leagues. And his agent is doing a fine job of trying to get his client that kind of move, and dropping Celtic’s name into the conversation is likely simply to be an attempt to facilitate that.
Niall J
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