Celtic’s alleged interest in James McAtee looks like being very short lived.
Over the last decade there has been a regular supply of players moving from Manchester City to Celtic on loan, starting with John Guidetti and Jason Denayer through to Patrick Roberts and Daniel Arzani.
Although there is no official link up Celtic has generally been a trusted club for City to send players on loan to with Dedryck Boyata sold to the hoops after Denayer returned from his loan.
Jeremie Frimpong proved to be an outstanding piece of business with both clubs likely to be on a cut of any fee from Bayer Leverkusen.
With Celtic now in a relatively strong position financially the club is less dependent on signing emerging loan players, in 2021 Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jota were signed with options to buy from Spurs and Benfica.
There is absolutely no doubting the quality of McAtee but midfield is one of the areas that Brendan Rodgers is very well covered in.
As well as last season’s regulars Odin Thiago Holm and Kwon Hyeok-kyu have been added to the squad with the purpose to develop them from back-up options into first team regulars.
Signing a 20-year-old midfielder on loan- regardless of how exceptional he might be would render those transfers virtually pointless.
Picking up on the McAtee theme the Daily Mail reports:
Meanwhile, Celtic are among several clubs monitoring Manchester City’s highly-rated young midfielder James McAtee. hThe 20-year-old is hoping to build on his stand-out loan helping Sheffield United win automatic promotion from the Championship last season and he scored in City’s 2-1 pre-season friendly win over Bayern Munich in Tokyo.
it was clear from Sunday’s Community Shield line-up against Arsenal at Wembley that he will struggle for game time with Pep Guardiola’s Treble-winning European champions.
In contract until 2026 and rated at around £25m, the Scottish champions would need to secure McAtee on a loan but they face stiff competition for the up-and-coming England Under-21 star.
City have turned their Academy recruitment into a very lucrative business with £44m raised from selling James Trafford, Carlos Borges and Shea Charles during the current window.
All of those deals are believed to have buy back options at agreed fees with City covering all options, it is markedly different from 2019 when Frimpong was sold for £350,000 with a 30% sell on.
Reports from Sweden last night linked Celtic with a £3m bid for Elfsborg defender Gustaf Lagerbielke.
A 23-year-old left sided central defender certainly seems like the sort of move that Brendan Rodgers would be keen to push through, especially with Carl Starfelt on his way to joining Celta Vigo.
After agreeing to four transfers in the project category it looks like Rodgers is now fully focussed on improving his Starting XI with Maik Nawrocki the first arrival in that category.
The Polish u-21 defender went straight into the side that started the defence of the SPFL Premiership title at home to Ross County, playing for 66 minutes alongside Carter-Vickers before being replaced by Starfelt.
With three weeks left in the transfer window and no midweek fixtures Celtic fans are expecting significant arrivals ahead of going into the Champions League without Jota and Aaron Mooy.
