Celtic have been linked with an interest in Manchester City’s Tommy Doyle, ‘keeping tabs’ according to David Friel of The Sun who has suggested that five deals could be completed this week.
Over more than a decade there has been dialogue and a supply of players from the Etihad to Celtic Park with that relationship strengthened by Mark Lawwell’s role at Celtic Park.
Doyle spent last season on loan at Sheffield United with Blades boss Paul Heckingbottom keen to bring him back with the EPL newboys struggling for finances despite promotion.
The 21-year-old is a traditional central midfielder, capable of providing a buffer to the Celtic defence, a role that Ange Postecoglou tried to fill with James McCarthy, Yosuke Ideguchi, Oliver Abildgaard and Tomoki Iwata brought in for that role.
Any move would only be on a loan basis, over the last couple of windows City have raised the transfer value of their younger players to around £12m with Southampton paying out £15m last month to sign teenage midfielder Shea Charles from City.
Ideally Celtic would be bringing in loan signings with an option to make the move permanent but with time running out any loans will likely be on City’s terms.
Highlighting Doyle, The Sun reports:
SunSport revealed £4m-rated Mathias Kvistgaarden of Brondby was on the Hoops’ radar, while Celts have been keeping tabs on Manchester City’s Tommy Doyle — and a midfield addition has not been ruled out.
EPL clubs are set to make a host of players available for loan this week and Hoops chiefs are monitoring the situation.
On Saturday The Sheffield Star reported on United’s continuing link to Doyle:
United’s decision to focus on talent at the top end of the pitch would naturally suggest a preference for re-signing McAtee out of the pair, but Heckingbottom has been in contact with Doyle’s representatives all summer. Celtic are also thought to be keen on the midfielder, while Wolves has also been mooted as a potential destination.
“No, he’s not (playing) and he’s got one or two options,” Heckingbottom said of Doyle. “We know. I’ve been in touch with his representatives a lot and he has one or two options, so I’m not going to say yes or no.”
The steady stream of players from City to Celtic has dried up in recent times, in 2019 Jeremy Frimpong was signed for around £300,000 with City picking up 30% of the fee Celtic collected from Bayer Leverkusen 18 months later.
