Oliver Burke’s signing came as a surprise in January as Celtic didn’t exactly need a winger. Moreover, the Scotsman had struggled to get going in the Championship with West Brom and had played less than an hour of football in the first half of the season. Reports also emerged that the Baggies had to place him on a special training regime to get him up to pace with the football at that level.
All this seemed like red signals to us, but the Bhoys signed him despite all this. Rodgers surprised everyone by using Burke as the man up top, but that turned out to be a masterstroke as the 21-year-old started delivering results straightaway. It seemed like the Scotsman had been part of the side for quite some time.
The way he has performed so far, there is no doubt that Celtic would want to sign him permanently. Even the player has made his feelings clear. However, he is aware that things can change as the Baggies are currently fighting to get to the Premier League.
Burke was quoted as saying (The Scottish Sun), ”If it was down to myself (staying), I would snatch it right up. I think it’s an amazing club and I’m very happy here and enjoying my football, so why wouldn’t I want to stay here? But right now, like I said, it’s totally out of my hands. We just have to see at the end of the season what comes of it.”
This is not the first time that Burke has given an indication about continuing at Celtic. Lennon will need to sign the player and maybe the club would have to smash their all-time transfer record to bring the player at Celtic Park permanently. However, despite the cost, Celtic needs to get this deal done.
West Brom paid an impressive fee of £15m in the summer of 2017 to sign the then 19-year-old winger. However, Burke never really managed to settle in at the Hawthorns. Things are likely to depend on the new manager coming in at West Brom and on which division they might end up playing in next season.
Hopefully, from Celtic’s point of view, things will end up in their favour as Burke has shown impressive signs and the 21-year-old has a high ceiling in terms of potential. Therefore Celtic can get a gem of a player if they manage to sign the winger cum forward permanently. Lennon should really do everything in his means to get him at Celtic Park.
