Want-away Ryan Christie has this morning been linked to his dream move to the English Premier League with his former boss Brendan Rodgers ready to make a move for the attacking midfielder who has just over six months remaining on his current contract at Celtic.
Stephen McGowan this morning, links Leicester with a move for the Scotland midfielder a day after both OGC Nice and AS Monaco were mentioned as being interested in the Celtic man. Both Ligue 1 clubs have been long-term admirers of Christie, with the French side (Nice) having had a previous bid rejected by Celtic. The well-informed reporter from Daily Mail states that an £8m OGC Nice bid was knocked back by the Parkhead club in the last transfer window.
The reports yesterday indicated that the player’s preference was to move abroad but that is likely to change if Rodgers makes his move by bargain hunting at his old club. Assuming that a highly unlikely change of heart from Christie fails to materialise regarding extending his stay at Celtic, the former Inverness Caley Thistle player will need to leave in this window if Celtic are to benefit from a transfer fee.
The cash strapped Highland club will be watching developments anxiously as they have a 10% sell-on fee on any future transfer from Celtic, after the Hoops re-coup their initial £500k investment.
McGowan also re-ignites the Gordon Strachan, Technical Director story from yesterday after the initial speculation appeared to have had cold water poured on it by a club source speaking to Andrew Smith at Scotsman. Smith made another observation in that piece, that the overseas interest in Christie could force up the eventual transfer fee and that could end up costing Leicester City more than they thought was likely…unless they arrange with the player’s agent that he sits tight until January and them moves to the King Power Stadium in January. That though wouldn’t be ideal for Leicester’s Europa League chances.
Rodgers may use his interest in signing the midfielder to re-ignite the stalled transfer talks with Celtic for French Under 21 striker Odsonne Edouard, who like Christie falls into the want-away category. Talks stalled last week after Leicester refused to meet Celtic’s valuation with the FA Cup winners having apparently turned their focus to Patson Daka at RB Salzburg.
The Leicester City interest in Christie could signal a move for James Maddison who is attracting interest from Arsenal. The fee for that one could be around £35-40m. Crazy to think that when both players were on loan at Aberdeen, the Celtic player was regarded by many to be the stand-out during the two respective loan spells.
Celtic have every right to try to maximise the fees achieved for selling our want-away players but the quicker we’re rid of them all the better will be the opinion of many of you reading this, and no wonder.
