Celtic have been linked with a move for Ryan Fraser.
The Scotland winger seems to be in the same sort of place Albian Ajeti is in at Celtic with virtually no chance of reviving his Newcastle career.
With a contract that he signed as a free agent running until May 2025 Fraser will be well looked after financially but his career could effectively be mothballed if he doesn’t get a move out of Newcastle.
Since selling Jota to Al Ittihad Celtic have been short of options on the left wing with Marco Tilio and Yang Hyun-jun both operating on the right flank.
There is bound to be increased speculation surrounding Celtic as the transfer deadline approaches with Rudy Galetti telling Give Me Sport:
Celtic are interested in Ryan Fraser from Newcastle. That has been confirmed. They are looking for a winger. The Scottish player, who doesn’t play a central role for the Magpies, is one of the preferred names and profiles.
It is doubtful how much Galetti knows about the inner workings of Celtic’s recruitment team.
While Fabrizio Romano has 16m followers on Twitter and strong contacts across the world with clubs and agencies Galetti has 95,000 Twitter followers and claims the speculative Tribal Football website as one of his credits.
Fraser would give Celtic what appears to be a very decent option on the left wing but his career has stalled at best since Lockdown.
Everyone seemed relaxed about the contract of a £300,000 signing running down but the delay in the 2019/20 season and Fraser’s refusal to sign a short term contract to complete Bournemouth’s season put a different complexion on things. Especially when Eddie Howe’s side were relegated.
While at Bournemouth Fraser was linked with clubs like Liverpool but facing a season without fans in stadiums he found himself signing for Steve Bruce at Newcastle.
Worse was to follow when Howe took over at St James’ Park in November 2021, an uneasy truce was formed as Newcastle escaped relegation but it was clear that Fraser wasn’t going to feature in his plans.
Turning 30 in February this season looks critical for the Scotland winger, does he regain his pre Lockdown form or does his career continue to slide away albeit with his bank balance in very good health.
CLICK HERE for Fraser’s Transfermarkt profile.
MEANWHILE
Brendan Rodgers has still to decided whether or not to keep Liam Scales.
Last season the defender went out on loan in June, joining Aberdeen in time for pre-season training ahead of a turbulent season under Jim Goodwin and Barry Robson.
This year Scales played a significant part in Celtic’s four pre-season matches but failed to make the bench for the SPFL opener against Ross County.
With Carl Starfelt sold in midweek Scales or Stephen Welsh should be on the bench at Aberdeen today but with Gustaf Lagerbielke expected to sign from Elsborg the Irishman could soon be back to fourth or fifth choice central defender.
Rodgers has to make Celtic’s interests his priority but is mindful of the player needing to be involved every week as he was last season.
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