Update: At the time of the writing of this story, Brendan Rodgers was still the Celtic manager. Since that time, he has been appointed as the new Leicester City manager with Neil Lennon taking Rodgers’ place as the Celtic manager until the end of the season,
Original story is as follows:
We were sceptical about Celtic signing Oliver Burke in the January transfer window as the Hoops didn’t exactly need a winger and the Scotsman had struggled for game time with the Baggies. So much so that he was put into a special training regime (The Scottish Sun) last year to get him up to the pace of the Championship football and we were not sure whether the former RB Leipzig player would be able to hit the ground running at Parkhead.
However, Burke has proved his naysayers (including us) wrong, and Rodgers has gone on to use him as a man up front. He hasn’t played as a traditional target man up front. Instead, he has been given the freedom to move around in the attacking third.
The winger has settled in his new role well and has already looked comfortable playing with his new team-mates. His performance has been such that he has kept Celtic’s record signing Odsonne Edouard out of the starting eleven on quite a few occasions.
But the major downer for this signing was that it was just a six-month loan deal. However, if latest reports from Birmingham Live are to be believed, then there is a suggestion in the Baggies camp that Burke could be allowed to stick around at Celtic Park beyond this season.
Now we are not sure whether Celtic will be given an opportunity to sign him permanently in the summer or whether West Brom would agree to extend the loan deal. However, whatever may be the case, Rodgers and the fans would be delighted if they can manage to stretch this £15m man’s stay in Glasgow.
Darren Moore had earlier claimed that Burke would return to West Brom at the end of the season, but maybe the progress which the 21-year-old has made in Glasgow might have changed his mind. We can already see the improvement which Burke has made, and his goalscoring exploits suggest that he will be a big hit with Celtic if he stays with them.
However, the fact remains that the ball is still in West Brom’s court as there is no deal about a future with Celtic. Rodgers too had earlier claimed that there is next to zero chance of them signing Burke permanently. However, recent reports definitely give them a little bit of hope. Celtic might have to shell top money to turn West Brom’s head in the summer. Realistically, they can look to extend his loan deal after the recent reports.
