Celtic are braced for some fierce action in the transfer market as the English transfer window is coming close to an end. Kristoffer Ajer is the latest name to be linked (The Scottish Sun) with Leicester City after the Norwegian initially attracted interest from Italian giants AC Milan.
Lennon on Ajer’s Value
However, Neil Lennon was quick to swipe away a possible move for the Norwegian defender and indicated that clubs chasing him would have to pay a bomb. Lennon recently said (Daily Record), ”£15m? I’d value Kris a lot higher than that. He has more to come, and I don’t think £15m would cut it, not that we are entertaining any offers.”
Even if Lennon values Ajer a lot higher, Leicester City should have the means to pay for the young defender after they struck a mega deal with Manchester United for Harry Maguire.
Lille linked with Simunovic
Jozo Simunovic is another defender who has been linked with Lille who finished second in the Ligue 1 last season. New reports state that buoyed by the latest financial insurgence of Nicolas Pepe’s sale to Arsenal, Lille have the means to make a big offer for the Croatian. However, reports from the Daily Record convey that the Hoops have taken a ‘not for sale’ stance. And rightly so as Celtic are already a bit short on defenders after Filip Benkovic and Dedryck Boyata departed from the club this summer.
The club can make big money here, but we have seen that finding plausible replacements isn’t an easy thing. After all, Celtic are still struggling to solve their right-back issue.
Tierney saga
Kieran Tierney is a name who has been heavily linked with an Arsenal move. The Scotsman is currently out with an injury, and two bids have already been rejected by Celtic for the defender. However, the Daily Mail now reports that the deal is in some danger as the Scottish fullback is going to be out for two months and that could jeopardise Arsenal’s move. Maybe the injury could turn into a blessing in disguise for Celtic, and they might be able to eke out another year for their out of their star academy product.
What should Lennon do?
Thus Celtic’s best three in the back four are currently being linked with a move away from the club, and the prospective clubs have the means to blow Celtic away with top offers. Whether it will come to that or not is another matter, but Lennon cannot afford to lose anyone apart from Tierney in that list. Even losing out on him would be a big blow. However, there has been a sense of inevitability and acceptance that the Scotsman would move on to bigger and better things at some point.
