A report has stated just how much the Luca Connell fee cost Celtic.
Bolton’s administrators had confirmed in a statement that Celtic had paid significantly more than the development fee necessary to sign the youngster. Bolton News confirmed that the fee required would’ve been £250k for Celtic to seal a deal for the midfielder.
But the Daily Mail has stated that the Hoops have instead paid £350k. That would mean the increased fee Bolton’s administrators were talking about was a total of £100k extra.
That’s a bit of a relief to those who may have wanted clarity on how much we spent. Connell is a highly-rated young talent, but Celtic look like they’ve done well to keep any figure for him low whilst coming out with some class.
Years of financially stricken issues leave Bolton in a perilous state. But Celtic have been able to profit from it with the signing of the Republic of Ireland youngster. And whilst the £100k isn’t much to Celtic, Bolton currently need every penny they can get.
The Connell fee represents no risk
Everyone hopes that Connell will prove to be a real success in time. Whether he makes an instant impact or it takes a while for him to bed in, he has such exciting potential for a player who’s only played 12 senior games.
But bringing him in for such a small fee offers absolutely no risk for Celtic. If he fails to cut it, we’ve hardly made much of a loss. And whilst nobody likes to think like that at the start of a player’s time at a new club, it makes the deal all the sweeter.
Since signing, Connell has already been training with the first-team in Switzerland. He was pictured in the training sessions doing some hard grafting alongside fellow new Bhoy Christopher Jullien (Celtic TV).
It won’t be long until Connell also finds out whether he’s in the Republic of Ireland under-19 squad for the European Championships later this month. The competition kicks off on July 14th, and finishes on the 27th. Effectively, that means he could miss the first and second Champions League qualification ties against Sarajevo and Nomme Kalju/Shkendija respectively.
It all adds up to an exciting summer for Connell. Neil Lennon will surely be watching his youngster closely if he is selected to head away with the Irish under-19s too.
In the meantime, here’s hoping we get a small glimpse of him tomorrow against St Gallen. Of course, whether Lennon decides to prioritise those taking part against Sarajevo remains to be seen.
In any case, the £350k fee we got him for could prove to be a sensational bargain down the line.
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