John Hartson: Celtic will try to sign Mohamed Elyounoussi

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Celtic great John Hartson believes the Hoops will try to sign Southampton’s Mohamed Elyounoussi on a permanent deal this summer.

The Norwegian has made a tremendous start to life at Parkhead. He’s fired home seven goals in 10 games, and has managed to replace the mercurial Mikey Johnston at left-mid. All of this despite the fact he needed to get up to speed fitness-wise too.

Southampton, however, signed Elyounoussi for £16million from Basel (The Telegraph). There feels like there’s a bit of realism to be had here regarding signing him for good.

However, speaking in the Scottish Sun, Hartson gave out this quip when he ran through some of Celtic’s danger players.

“Elyounoussi looks a top player to me and I hear Celtic will try to turn his loan into a permanent deal if they can.”

Difficult to see where Celtic can get some joy here

These kinds of deals can be the toughest to pull off. After all, just because Southampton gave us Elyounoussi for a season, it doesn’t mean they don’t see a future for him.

He was seen as the man to replace Dusan Tadic. That’s an incredible role he was given to fill. And after making 19 appearances, it’s difficult to say his career there is over.

Considering the money paid for him, Southampton are under no pressure to sell. And then there is the problem of him being so valuable to us. Saints can use that to their advantage too.

It’s widely acknowledged that the Premier League outfit must be wondering why they got rid of him in the first place. If they are thinking that, it will hardly lead them to selling him permanently.

Elyounoussi is a fine footballer, that much is certain. But there are so many things going against Celtic in trying to get a deal done.

Our best bet may be if they get relegated and are forced into selling some of their top earners. Elyounoussi could come into that bracket given how big his deal was at the time of signing. But for Celtic fans, it’s a plus to hear that the club may try some moves to make this permanent. If we pulled it off, it would be a guaranteed signing of the summer.