Celtic had a successful deadline day yesterday, regardless of what anyone says – but why didn’t the club get rid of Scott Allan?
Granted, this is a question you could probably put to several of Celtic’s flops. The likes of Dorus de Vries, Cristian Gamboa, and Jonny Hayes are all sitting not doing very much for their wage packet.
But Allan’s future at Celtic has already been slammed shut. He’s signed a pre-contract with Hibernian that will see him head for Easter Road regardless of what happens between now and the end of the season. You can read out story on that here.
If there’s one player in the Hoops squad you could guarantee wouldn’t get a game, it would surely be Allan. He’s nowhere near first-team contention, and featuring him in match-day squads now makes no sense.
The BBC yesterday announced on their live deadline day feed that Hibs had tabled an offer to Celtic on Tuesday (20:52). But, the window ended without the former Dundee United starlet taking the journey across the M8.
Both clubs have been extremely quiet on what happened here. Hibs haven’t come out and explained to supporters why he wasn’t signed. Celtic, on the other hand, have no need to state why Allan’s staying put.
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It’s clear something happened last night too. BT Sport presenter Darrell Currie explained on Twitter how “efforts were made” to get a deal done.
Perhaps a case of not enough cash?
It seems to be the case that Hibs just simply didn’t stump up enough cash. There’s surely no other possible reason for the deal not to have gone ahead, with Celtic seemingly playing hardball over him. This, of course, hasn’t been confirmed by either club.
It’s also interesting that Celtic didn’t just cut their losses and let him leave. As mentioned before, he’s now of no value for the next six months.
For the player’s sake, the club could’ve given him the boost of letting him leave. It certainly would’ve been in Allan’s best interests, with the decision to keep him meaning absolutely nothing for Celtic.
It would’ve gotten a player off of the wage-bill too, which would’ve been ideal. But, regardless, talks have now ended considering the window is now shut. Allan will therefore have to wait until the summer to get out of Parkhead.