Report: Southampton want Celtic to pay hefty percentage of Fraser Forster wages in any loan deal

By David Walton

July 18, 2021

Southampton want Celtic to potentially pay two-thirds of the wages of Fraser Forster in order to sign him on loan, the Scottish Sun reports.

Links to the English Premier League shot-stopper have started up again. The Sun last night reported that the Hoops are in talks with Saints over a potential deal.

This comes after an inconsistent year for Celtic in the goalkeeping department. Vasilis Barkas, Scott Bain, and Conor Hazard all failed to impress in differing stints as the club’s number one last term.

However, a deal looks a lot trickier to pull off this time around. The Sun reports that Southampton want half of Forster’s monster £130k-per-week wages. But the EPL side are said to be more likely to pay just a third of them.

That would leave Celtic having to splash out just under a whopping 87k-per-week. Even if Saints did consider half of his wages, it still leaves us shelling out £65k-per-week.

Southampton look like playing hardball; Celtic fans shouldn’t get hopes up of Fraser Forster return

Nobody can deny the impact Forster would have on this Celtic squad. After his loan spell back in the 2019/20 season, he proved that he can lead this club to glory.

However, there are just so many things that go against us in any bid to get this deal over the line. None more so than the fact Saints want an incredible figure for his wages. Or at least incredible in relation to what we would expect to pay out for a new signing.

But money isn’t the only thing that could be blocking this deal. Forster had a spell as the club’s number one in stages throughout the second half of last season. His manager, Ralph Hasenhuttl also bigged up his talent last season too [Hampshire Live].

Then you have the fact that Forster didn’t even want to return last season. Despite telling supporters how he could never say no to Celtic during his 2019/20 loan spell, he did exactly that last summer.

There’s a morale point to be had about whether we even offer him another opportunity. He didn’t come out of last season’s saga looking too great. Granted, if he did open his arms to an approach from Celtic, it’s unlikely we would be turning away and telling him no.

But at the minute, it all just looks a bit far-fetched.

In other news: ANGE Postecoglou provides Celtic support with fresh injury update for Midtjylland