CELTIC have been linked with signing Manchester United youngster Aliou Traoré. The French talent has been identified as a target by a number of clubs and reports from France Football have cited the Scottish Champions as being interested in the 19-year-old.
The midfielder has impressed for United’s U23s but with a players like Scott McTominay, Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba occupying the first team berths in central midfield, the French youngster may look for first team football elsewhere.
Celtic have form scouring the Premier League academies in the hunt for young talent. Traoré, who started his career with PSG, was part of Nicky Butt’s UEFA Youth League winning side and it would be an ideal acquisition for Celtic. In the aftermath of the Coronavirus pandemic young talent is at a premium and with one year remaining on his United deal, Celtic could persuade Traoré to follow the path of someone like Jeremie Frimpong.
Last season Celtic signed Frimpong and Lee O’Connor from Manchester’s big two, with Frimpong breaking through into the first time and performing admirably in his first season. The club also signed Luca Connell and Jonathan Afolabi from English sides, exploiting the rule.
Going further back, Moussa Dembele joined from Fulham for just £500k using the cross border rule. It would appear that in recent seasons Celtic’s talent scouting has changed to focus on highly youngsters coming out of English academies but are unwilling to sign new contracts.
