The Daily Mail’s report today regarding Shane Duffy’s move from Brighton to Celtic has certainly caught the attention of Hoops fans on social media.
The Mail’s Stephen McGowan has exclusively revealed that Celtic have fended off interest from both West Ham and West Brom to secure the services of Duffy on a one-year loan deal.
Many Celtic fans were worried about the deal potentially being dead after last Wednesday’s Champions League KO to Ferencvaros at Parkhead.
However, looking at the reaction to the latest report in the saga, the Celtic support definitely appear to be in a different frame of mind.
https://twitter.com/Declanreilly23/status/1300225463760158721
https://twitter.com/andydonald_/status/1300200486788833282
https://twitter.com/TheBhoyMoz/status/1300206917222948864
https://twitter.com/MartinWardhaugh/status/1300197179211100160
https://twitter.com/ElyounoussiCSC/status/1300195793081696257
A short-term solution with long-term optimism
Duffy’s signing will certainly smack of the club looking to be as safe as possible in securing the 10. After all, the void left by Jozo Simunovic will be filled, but only temporarily considering, by all accounts, Duffy would be arriving on loan.
However, so long as Brighton continue to improve and the Celtic-Duffy relationship grows, there will be an attachment there that will have many hoping this ends up a long-term agreement.
Unfortunately, his value at Brighton won’t depreciate over the course of the next 12 months. Next summer, Duffy will still be contracted to the Seagulls for another two years (Transfermarkt).
Yet the reported figure for Duffy’s services was never enormous in any case. The Sunday Post said yesterday that the Premier League club were looking for £5million to sell the Irishman permanently. That’s a deal that may well look doable next summer, especially if we manage another good run in the Europa League.
Meanwhile, it’s funny how long a week can be in football. Not five days ago were we all livid at getting knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers. Yet a 3-0 win vs Motherwell followed by a potentially massive addition to our backline has helped to lift the spirits amongst the support (only to an extent mind you!).
All eyes will be on the official Celtic Twitter page this week as we await the official announcement of Duffy’s signing. With a bit of luck, we get him in and ready for the trip to Ross County in two weeks.
In other news, Davie Provan has laughed off suggestions that another Celtic defender could be off to better things.
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