English interest in Oliver Burke is exactly what Celtic needed to avoid

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Oliver Burke, as we all know by now, has reported suitors in the form of Crystal Palace.

According to the Daily Mail via the Daily Record, Burke doesn’t have a future at the Hawthorns, and Palace have been impressed by his resurgence in Scotland. The attacker has four goals to his name after adapting to a lone striker role in Glasgow.

Alarm bells immediately ring there with regards to the first section. West Brom have always been firm in their stance that Burke would return in the summer. He has three years left on his contract down south, so they’ve invested well in him.

The sacking of former manager Darren Moore may have helped the idea of him not being wanted back at West Brom, however.

Regardless, if the latter is true about Palace being interested, then that’s bad news for us.

It all comes down to one thing – finance. Not only could Palace reimburse West Brom for what they paid out on Burke – a reported £15million – but they could easily pay over it. That dwarfs what Celtic would surely be willing to spend on the young star.

Palace interest could spark more Premier League suitors

This could also help drum up interest from other quarters in the Premier League. The last thing we needed his Celtic performances doing was building up interest in England.

Of course his performances in Glasgow have fluctuated too. One match he’s looked like a world beater like the 4-0 rout of St Mirren. Then there are displays like the 0-0 Aberdeen draw when he fails to show any of his positive qualities.

But, for Celtic, there’s enough there to surely want him back next season. Burke was poor last night in his international return for Scotland, but he would never have even been on international duty this week had it not been for his impressive displays at Parkhead.

Celtic have to hope there is no solid interest in Burke from down south. Our only hope then would be player power, but Burke has been keeping his cards close to his chest about his future.

Hopefully this reported interest from Palace leads to nothing. If it’s legitimate, then there may be nothing Celtic can do to stop him going for another crack in England once again.