Celtic table £3million offer for Shandon Baptiste - report

By Hamish Carton

January 30, 2020

Celtic have made a bid in the region of £3million for Oxford United midfielder Shandon Baptiste – according to a report from talkSPORT.

The radio station are running the story on their website, and say that the Neil Lennon’s Hoops have made “a late dash” to sign the midfielder ahead of tomorrow night’s transfer deadline.

Neil Lennon and Peter Lawwell (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Little else is known about our apparent interest in the player although Brentford City are said to be long-term admirers for Baptiste, after having a deal secured for him last year before he picked up a serious injury – ironically against them.

talkSPORT also say that Newcastle, Leeds and Rangers have been monitoring the 21-year-old.

What do we know about Baptiste?

Baptiste is a Grenada international who has played the entirety of his short career in England.

On the face of it, his stats (via transfermarkt.co.uk) don’t look particularly groundbreaking. He’s played 17 games in League One this season, scoring one goal and setting up a further two.

He’s around medium height and is listed as a central midfielder, while his current contract isn’t up until the summer of 2023.

Given that Oxford currently sit 8th in the table, it is hard to imagine that they’ll want to part with a first-team regular for a paltry fee.

It’s really difficult to know a great deal else about the youngster, or whether our interest is even genuine at this stage.

Baptiste playing against Manchester City (Photo by Robin Jones/Getty Images)

We are a little bit light in central-midfielder at present, and Callum McGregor and Scott Brown have started virtually every game together this season.

The club have already signed Ismaila Soro this month but another midfield option wouldn’t go a miss, especially if it’s for a player who has lots of scope for improvement at 21.

The name has certainly come out of nowhere. But that is often the way things work during the transfer window.

Especially in the latter days of it.