Scottish giants Celtic are reportedly weighing up a bid for Chelsea’s young star Mario Pasalic as Brendan Rodgers continues to eye more young arrivals at Celtic Park this summer. The Croatian international has had a sizzling season on loan with former Serie A giants AC Milan and now finds a host of suitors lined up for his services.
The 22-year-old central midfielder has impressed one and all with his disciplined and balanced performances for Milan last year, where he managed to get 24 appearances under his belt despite having little experience compared to Milan’s senior squad. And the Celtic boss is determined to land him before they kick-off their next season with humungous expectations.
While Rangers getting ousted from the Europa League in the first qualifying round itself has been a source of entertainment for Celtic fans, it has put double pressure on the side more than anything. With Celtic the only Scottish side in the Champions League, Rodgers will have huge responsibilities in guiding the side beyond the group stages.
Scottish Premiership feeds to the widespread thinking of being a non-competitive league where sides like Celtic, who enjoys an invincible stature in the domestic campaign, don’t go past the group stages. And Pasalic could be an interesting addition towards their attempt to step out.
Pasalic could manage five goals and an assist for Milan in all competitions last season and has returned to Stamford Bridge. Since joining the Blues from Croatian side HNK Hajduk Split, where he grew up as a player, Pasalic was pushed into Chelsea’s famous loan-structure. He has played for various clubs and leagues since then like La Liga side Elche CF, Ligue 1 side AS Monaco and finally Serie A side Milan.
Quite interestingly, the player has managed to be a more or less regular for all the three temporary clubs averaging more than 25 appearances and having a decent scoring tally for a midfielder. However, his failure to be a regular at a big side has limited his national appearances to only two caps.
The time seems perfect for him to step up now and Celtic will have to fight the likes of Championship side Leeds United, Spanish side Real Betis, Turkish side Galatasaray and Serie A side Lazio. His valuation is kept at something in the region of €10 million (£8.84m).
While it would be affordable for most of his suitors, Celtic are expected to edge them out given their European stature. To top that, Rodgers is in increasing danger of missing out on his star midfielder from last season, Stuart Armstrong, making Pasalic all the more important.
