TIMO WEAH remains hopeful that he can still have a future at Paris Saint Germain, despite being told that he has been transfer listed by the mega-bucks French Champions.
The 18 year old’s loan move to Celtic ended somewhat prematurely a week ago after he rejected a compromise agreement reached by Neil Lennon and the coaches of the United States Under 20 side to allow Weah to join the national side for the preparations for the FIFA Under 20 World Cup in Poland before returning to Glasgow at the start of next week to prepare for the Scottish Cup Final.
When the player himself rejected this plan, Neil Lennon reckoned that it was in the best interests of the club for Weah to leave immediately.
Why he didn’t fancy playing in a major cup final is beyond most folk but it was his call. Now though his chances of making it in Paris seem to be receding.
“I hope to return to PSG next season and meet the expectations of the club and the coach and me,” Weah said in a radio interview on French radio station RMC.
“My ambition has always been to be a PSG player. I developed at the club and it has always been a dream. And it still is; to have the level to evolve in such a strong team with these incredible players.
“It remains my goal. I like this club and I have been there for four years. Why not more?”
During his time at Celtic Weah made 17 appearances, mostly as a substitute and scored four goals. It remains a possibility that a second loan deal – this time for a season – could see him back at Celtic next season. However that seems increasingly unlikely.
What is even less likely than that would be for Celtic to put in a bid for the player. Peter Lawwell does have a good relationship with his counter-part at PSG and used the try before you buy approach with them to secure Odsonne Edouard – Weah’s mate – on a loan deal before breaking the club’s transfer fee record to sign the striker on a permanent deal.
How much would PSG want for Timo Weah? Upwards of £5million anyway and for that money, Celtic could go back to Peter’s other mates – at Manchester City – and probably convince them that Paddy Roberts, after a disappointing season on loan in Spain and now about to enter the final year of his contract, would be worth around the £5million mark himself.
We know what we are getting with Paddy and someone who agrees with this logic is the former Celtic manager Davie Hay. Writing in his newspaper column this morning the Club Ambassador put forward the case for bringing Paddy home.
“The winger hasn’t really hit the heights we all know that he is capable of in Girona on loan from Manchester City this season, but he did exceptionally well at Celtic in his spell up in Scotland and he is still young at 22,” Hay wrote in his Evening Times column.
“Whether it would be a possibility or not I’m not sure, because he will be going into the final year of his contract with Manchester City, but he really enjoyed his time up here and I’m sure the player himself would be open to the possibility of a return.”
Bring Paddy home Peter and good luck to Timo, thanks for your contribution to this season, just a pity that you decided against being part of something very special next Saturday.
