ALTERING their Instagram account seems to be a way in which professional footballers can ‘say’ things without breaching any contractual obligations and this is something that the media, the click-bait sites and indeed the internet savvy supporters pick up on.
Celtic supporters will remember Charly Musonda deleting all mentions of Celtic before his loan spell ended abruptly – another Rodgers signing that who was a complete waste of money. Moussa Dembele used his Instagram account to great effect last August to force his move through exposing the hypocrisy of the then Celtic manager – it may have been a little less subtle than Musonda’s deletion but it did the trick for the player who got his move away from working for that manager in a £19.4million move to Lyon.
Another one Rodgers’ loan signings – now back at his parent club – ‘did a Musonda’ last night. Olivier Burke, now back in he West Midlands, deleted all mention of West Brom from his Instagram account.
Burke left Celtic at the end of last season when his loan period expired. He returned to West Brom, who paid £15million for the forward to RB Leipzig but have failed to find a way to play the Scotland internationalist.
West Brom changed their manager with Slaven Bilić coming in and promising to give Burke a chance. That appears to have derailed judging by Burke’s Instagram move last night.
Burke left Celtic and posted a message praising Celtic yet the West Brom Director of Football, Luke Dowling released a statement which heavily criticised Celtic in general and Neil Lennon in particular for their treatment of their player while on loan at the Scottish Champions. Celtic responded by issuing a statement of their own.
Dowling’s words seem particularly hollow this morning but he will be consoling himself knowing that he won the fight with Celtic for the signature of Raheem Harper (who opted to sign a new contract at The Hawthorns rather than move to Glasgow) and Romaine Sawyers who opted for a move back to West Brom from Brentford rather than try his luck at the Scottish Premiership Champions and play in the Champions League.
Burke’s Instagram this morning features images from his time at Celtic and some playing for Scotland.
So is there an opportunity there for Celtic? West Brom’s problem is that they have paid £15million for a player who appears to be surplus to requirements. If he is not going to be part of Slaven Bilić’s plans for their push to get into the Premier League, they really do need to move him on, quickly.
And if he sits in the reserves his transfer value will drop like a stone, to near enough zero. That’s a hefty loss for West Brom to suffer but don’t laugh too loudly because the chap who signed him for West Brom is currently working for Peter Lawwell at Celtic!
Yes Nick Hammond was West Brom’s answer to Lee Congerton and was the man who signed Oliver Burke for £15million from RB Leipzig and he is currently working some sort of trial period at Celtic over the summer. Should we be afraid? Maybe.
Incidentally John Park’s move to Falkirk has been put on hold until the proposed take-over is completed. The Falkirk fans want to do proper due diligence on the businessman trying to take over after his bid to buy Sunderland failed.
Park was the subject of a pretty accurate article on The Celtic Star at the weekend, Lawwell simply cannot let go, why Celtic don’t have a director of football...see HERE.
But back to Oli Burke. Rodgers brought three loan signings in in January and it has to be said they gave us a lift and helped put distance between us and the mob from Govan who started the year level on points with Celtic.
Of the three, Timo Weah, Jerry Toljan and Oli Burke, Burke probably contributed most. The change of manager at the end of February, meaning that the loanees only got a month playing for Rodgers, and all three faded as Neil Lennon clearly favoured playing Celtic players rather than loanees and this went for Filip Benkovic too after he returned to fitness.
Weah and Toljan returned to their clubs and were subsequently moved on. Weah is the replacement for Nicolas Pepe, who signed for Arsenal yesterday in a £72million transfer. Lille had paid PSG £9million for Weah ahead of selling their star player and have this morning been linked with a second approach to Celtic for Jozo Šimunović.
Toljan moved to Sassuolo in Italy on a loan with an option to buy deal after being told he has no future at Borussia Dortmund.
The other two loanees, Filip Benkovic and Oli Burke are both back in England and face uncertain futures. Will Rodgers play Benkovic at Leicester City? Maybe, but he’s unlikely to be a regular starter.
And Burke seems to be surplus to requirements at West Brom.
If Celtic decide that a high enough offer for Šimunović is too good to refuse then why not test Leicester’s resolve regarding Filip Benkovic with a bid matching the price that Lille would pay for Jozo?
And is there an opportunity there to sign Oli Burke an turn him into the player that his potential says is there but he’s never shown consistently enough anywhere?
The boy loved playing for Celtic and if someone can put all the pieces together he could be quite a player, one that our de facto Peter Lawwell could look to sell for £15million down the line.
West Brom need to cut their losses. Offer them £3million and see if they bite.
