Interim Celtic boss John Kennedy believes the club needs to sit down in the summer and try to sign Mohamed Elyounoussi permanently.
The Norwegian winger has been one of the few success stories this season. Despite 10-in-a-row being wiped away from our sights, Moi has rediscovered his best form in what’s his second loan spell from Southampton.
Elyounoussi heads into today’s Glasgow Derby showdown at Ibrox with a stunning 18 goals and seven assists to his name this term [Transfermarkt]. His form has led to plenty of Celtic fans calling for the club to do all they can to make Glasgow his permanent home.
Southampton signed Moi in the summer of 2018 for an eye-watering £16million [The Telegraph]. But Kennedy doesn’t believe that valuation is relevant anymore as he outlined the importance of bringing players of Elyounoussi’s quality to the club.
“We’ll have to address that in the summer”
As quoted by the Scottish Sun, Kennedy said: “I think he’s the calibre of player you want to try to attract to your club. When you’ve worked with a player you know the quality they have, you get to see them up close and what you really like.
“Moi’s character and his levels, in terms of training, he’s first class in everything he does. He’s one of the best professionals I’ve worked with. He really looks after his body, he commits to training and every drill you do each day. When he’s on form he’s a very good player. We’ll have to address that in the summer if it’s a possibility. If it is a possibility I’m pretty sure the club will look closely at that.
“It depends on the situation. When players are bought it doesn’t always mean that’s what they are valued at going forwards. The discussion between the clubs isn’t one I’d go into and say to put a value on it. The club will look at what they have in the squad, what’s available and if a deal can be done. It probably won’t take place until the summer, so we will focus on making the most of having Moi and getting the most out of him we can.”
John Kennedy shares Celtic fans’ hopes on Mohamed Elyounoussi; asking price won’t be cheap
Every Celtic fan and their granny want the club to tie down Elyounoussi permanently. But there are two main stumbling blocks that make any deal a touch foggy at the moment.
The first being that nobody knows, outside of Southampton, what their valuation of the Norwegian is. It could be the case that they see Elyounoussi as being worth eight figures. That would be enough to break Celtic’s transfer record fee if that was the case.
That could be a major problem for the club considering the number of signings we need to make in the summer. The size of the rebuild is on a scale we haven’t seen in years, so splashing out so much on one player could be troublesome for the board.
The second issue is the fact that we have no idea how Moi feels about staying permanently. He’ll know he’s a class above the Scottish Premiership. It also hasn’t helped that his national team manager has been ridiculing our league and urging Kristoffer Ajer to leave it ASAP [Sunday Post]. He could easily be concerned about his own international ambitions if he stays.
Elyounoussi is now 26. He’s no longer an exciting young prospect. He’s going to be coming into the peak years of his career soon. Therefore, his next contract is going to be a colossal one for him. He may want a crack at one of Europe’s top five leagues one last time.
But all we can do is wait. Hopefully, come the summer, all parties are up for a discussion on potentially bringing him back again.
In other news, Davie Provan has provided a brilliant Scottish Cup prediction ahead of Rangers vs Celtic today.
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