Celtic are reportedly as much as £1.5million off Huddersfield Town’s valuation of right-back Tommy Smith.
Huddersfield have just been relegated to the Championship. But according to the Sun on Sunday (07/07/2019, page 61), the Hoops still won’t be getting their right-back on the cheap.
The Sun believes that the Terriers want as much as £4million for their star man. The Sun also believes that Stoke City are in the mix for his signature too. But that kind of interest will hardly make Celtic quake in their boots.
Celtic apparently value the defender at £2.5m. Unfortunately for the Hoops, however, Smith currently has a further year on his contract. According to Transfermarkt, Huddersfield also have the option of extending it by a further year too.
Fortunately, Stoke also apparently rate Smith at the same value as Celtic do, according to The Sun. Therefore, as it stands, we’re at a stalemate here if we want to get a deal done for the former Premier League right-back.
Tommy Smith will cost money, but so will any good right-back
If we’re serious about going for Smith, we should just land the £4m fee onto Huddersfield’s desk. Why not? After all, we’ve splashed plenty of money on two signings in particular this summer. Those were essential buys, and Celtic acted swiftly to get them in. Getting a right-back in, however, is the most important of them all.
It also comes on the same day that Bournemouth apparently have a medical lined up for former Celtic target Jack Stacey (Sky Sports). The Daily Record believes that Celtic have given up their interest in him to move on to Smith. Smith, to his credit, at least has Premier League experience. That’s something Stacey doesn’t.
Last season, Smith featured in 15 occasions in the Premier League. Overall, he’s managed 39 outings in England’s top division. He doesn’t have any European experience. Once again, that’s a carrot Celtic can dangle in any potential battle with Stoke over his signature.
Again, if this is our new number one target, we could do with getting him in. It’s getting tiring for supporters seeing the number of right-backs we’re being linked with. It’s also at the stage now where we could do with one coming in before the league campaign begins.
Celtic kick-off their Premiership campaign on August 3rd at home to St Johnstone. In truth, however, a right-back (or two if we’re being really honest!) needs to be brought in before then and integrated with the squad.
No offer has, as of yet, been reported for Smith. But if Celtic want him, it appears we’ll need to go some bit higher than we originally thought.
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