According to Daily Record, Scottish Premiership champions Celtic are set to sell their veteran left-back, Emilio Izaguirre, to the Saudi Arabian outfit Al-Fayha for a fee which is believed to be £1.25million. Despite stating earlier that he is desirous to stay at the Celtic Park for three more years, the Honduras international has apparently made up his mind to make a lucrative move to the Middle East. The Aj Majma’ah based side lifted the Saudi First Division title last term and would be in the top flight this time around.
Izaguirre was signed from Honduran side Motagua during the summer transfer window of 2010 and ever since his move to the ranks of the Hoops, he had been one of the most productive players for them. He was quick to adapt to the manner in which the game is played in Scotland and his cutting edge enabled him to become a household name pretty soon after his entry. Whilst his seven-year spell with Celtic, the 31-year-old piled 6 Scottish Premiership titles, 2 Scottish Cup and 2 League Cups to his name and was one of the popular figures amongst the fans.
However, the scenario changed head over heels last time around. The Bhoys were absolutely scintillating on the domestic soil last season. The green and white crops bulldozed past their domestic rivals with relative ease and to be honest, quality teams like Rangers and Aberdeen also seemed to be lagging way behind them in terms of productivity. Celtic might have won the treble domestically, but the fullback had very little role to play and it is implied that a player of his calibre would not be very pleased to sit out on the bench more often than not.
A young prodigy in the shape of Kieran Tierney made the left-back slot his very own last season. Under the tutelage of Brendan Rodgers, Tierney was given the pedestal to thrive and the blossoming starlet grabbed the opportunities which were rendered to him with open arms. However, the emergence of the Scottish international pushed Izaguirre to the stature of a second choice left-back, which surely was never going to be easy for the veteran. Thus, it goes without saying that with 10 starts in the Scottish top division last term, he was in a dire need to vouch for a new endeavour where he could receive more game time on the pitch.
The former Liverpool boss might still have Tierney with him but letting a proven gladiator like Izaguirre leave the club is a big void to be refilled. He did prove his mettle of being a shrewd defender who knows how to maintain a perfectly fine balance between his offensive and defensive duties. If not as a regular starter, he could have offered a good option from the bench for Rodgers and it would thus be interesting to see how Celtic deal with the situation in the coming weeks.
