Director of football shares how long Millwall were chasing former Celtic youngster Daniel Kelly

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The loss of Daniel Kelly to Millwall was another sore blow for Celtic in this summer’s transfer window.

The former Celtic youngster was tipped to have a bright future at Parkhead and was offered £5,000 per week by Celtic to keep him in Scotland for the foreseeable future.

However, Kelly refused the deal and decided, instead, to make the switch to London and sign for Millwall on a four-year pre-contract deal.

To speed up the process of the move, Millwall agreed to pay Celtic £400,000 and now that Kelly is officially one of The Lions, Director of Football, Steve Gallen has revealed just how long the Championship club were chasing the former Celtic talent.

Millwall targeting Kelly since May

Gallen was appointed as Millwall’s Director of Football on the 10th of May this year and after signing Kelly this week, he revealed that former Celtic academy graduate was ‘highlighted’ to him immediately after he was appointed.

Speaking on Millwall FC’s official website, Gallen said, “Daniel is a player that has been on the club’s radar for some time and highlighted to me upon my arrival.

“It’s been no secret that he’s attracted a lot of interest. We’ve been working on this deal all summer and we’re delighted that he sees his long-term future with Millwall.”

The fact that Daniel Kelly was so high on Millwall’s list of priorities that Gallen was immediately made aware of the former Celtic youngster is a testament to how highly the English club rates him.

And that is exactly why the Millwall chief sounds over the moon to have his man.

Kelly’s ‘bright future’ at Millwall

Gallen continues to explain why his club targeted Kelly and shares how he will fit into Millwall’s plans for the future.

Gallen continues, “He’s exactly the type of profile we want to bring in. He’s a young box-to-box midfielder, athletic, dynamic and I feel he has a bright future and can add real quality to the squad.

“Our aim and vision is to create assets for this football club and bring in younger players, as well as promoting players from our Academy.

“We want to make a team and club that is sustainable, exciting and developing lots of athletic-type players over the next few years.

“Daniel ticks a lot of boxes for us and I’m sure everybody joins me in wishing him the very best here.”

For Celtic now, the club and Brendan Rodgers must look to avoid this type of situation arising again. In a summer where Rocco Vata was lost to Watford, the club cannot continue to allow its top talents to walk out and leave.

Hopefully, the appointment of Darren O’Dea as Celtic’s Player Pathway Manager will now help the young players at Lennoxtown see that there can be a future as a Celtic first-team player.

The fans love nothing more than seeing youth from the academy get promoted and become a success at Celtic and it is the one area in which the club has been lacking at improving over the years.