Davie Provan makes embarrassing £7m Celtic oversight with Ibrox comparison

By John McGinley

March 1, 2020

Former Celtic star Davie Provan has bizarrely said Neil Lennon would have loved to have signed a player of the same monetary value as Rangers winger Ryan Kent, forgetting Christopher Jullien arrived for a similar fee, writing in his Scottish Sun column today.

Provan has been reflecting on the European fortunes of both sides and has had a close look at the transfer business of Celtic in particular.

In comments designed to have a go at the money men and decision-makers at Celtic Park, Provan would go on to make a direct comparison to Kent after his goal against Braga on Wednesday night.

He thinks Lennon may have envy at the Ibrox club spending that kind of cash on one player.

As quoted by The Scottish Sun, he said: “On a night Ryan Kent rammed the words of critics back down their throats, Rangers ran the game from start to finish. Gerrard has watched his team blow their title hopes but they gave him some payback in Portugal.

“Kent’s £7million fee has been used as a rod to beat him but he produced when it mattered.

“Despite Celts’ massive financial advantage over Gers I’ll bet Lennon would love to spend that type of money on one player.”

Provan has got it all wrong here

Unfortunately for Provan, he’s made a bit of a blunder here, forgetting that Jullien arrived from Toulouse for a reported £7m fee last June, weeks before Kent made the switch from Liverpool (The Herald).

Jullien has been a supreme performer for Celtic this season, scoring a massive goal in Europe himself against Lazio and even a cup-final winning effort against Kent’s Rangers.

In fact, amusingly, despite being a centre-half and Kent being a winger, Jullien has scored as many goals as the Ibrox signing so far this season. Both have netted seven in all competitions.

Celtic defender Christopher Jullien celebrates a trophy win / (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

If you’re going to have a go at Celtic’s transfer business, especially in comparison to Rangers, at least get it right.

Celtic’s summer business was actually pretty positive with Fraser Forster, Jeremie Frimpong and Greg Taylor all currently regular performers in Neil Lennon’s team.

There’s absolutely no doubt that our Europa League exit wasn’t good enough and has stung supporters. Lennon needs to have a good look at his squad and re-assess our readiness for European level next season.

However, there’s also plenty to look forward to and with performers like Jullien in the team, there’s excellent talent on the pitch too.