While Celtic have been taking a fair bit of stick for some of their recent transfer business, they could pull off a massive coup if they manage to sign Mohamed Elyounoussi on a permanent basis.
He’s currently on loan from Southampton and there’s no sign of an option to buy in that deal, but a report from Football Insider has indicated that his price tag has drastically dropped in the past few months.
They confirm that the Saints paid as much as £16m to sign him in the first place and they wanted £10m to let him go in the summer, so the best Celtic could do was bring him back in on loan.
He’s been one of the more productive players this season so there should be some interest in making that move permanent, while the report suggests his value has now dropped to £5m so that would be a great piece of business.
READ MORE: Photo: Celtic’s Stephen Welsh included in SPFL’s TOTW
They go on to say that Southampton are open to letting him go while Celtic do want to keep him, so it just remains to be seen if a deal can be done and how accurate that value really is.
This news has understandably been a talking point on social media over the past 24 hours, and it looks like a lot of the fans are desperate for this deal to happen:
Elyounoussi is a steal at £5m by the way. Very good player and like so many others in the squad would become far better under a new and better manager.
— Murray (@DMMacdonald96) February 9, 2021
Sign Elyounoussi
— Ryan King (@RJK301) February 9, 2021
If we get a progressive manager who goes with the currently typical european formation of 433 then Elyounoussi would be ideal as the left striker.
— Bryan (@BryanMc77) February 9, 2021
Mohamed Elyounoussi has been involved in 32 goals in his 53 appearances for Celtic. In that time he’s often been played out of position and been played in a side going through horrendous form.
Yet there’s still folk saying he’s no worth 5 million.
— Aidan Ritchie (@AidanRitchie27) February 9, 2021
Moi Elyounoussi on a permanent deal NOT managed by Neil Lennon next season yes please 👍🏽
— div (@_dkelly67) February 9, 2021
If Moi Elyounoussi is gon for 6 million we should be giving Southampton a bell right this minute and telling them he’s getting locked in at lennoxtown til he signs the contract and theyll get their dough via bank transfer in the next 10 mins
— Shaun Hendo (@Shaunn_88) February 9, 2021
There’s still plenty of time for things to change and his value could increase if he lights it up between now and the end of the season, but this looks like a deal Celtic should be looking to finalise as soon as they can.
