Chris Sutton isn’t having the rumours that Josip Juranovic could leave Celtic this summer, feeling there’s no reason for the player to make a switch nor the club to sell.
The Celtic gossip columns burst into flames earlier this week when renowned transfer guru Fabrizio Romano reported that Juranovic was likely to leave Glasgow this summer, with a number of teams said to be interested.
It was later reported by Croatian media that, right now, the player is happy at the Bhoys and doesn’t want to jeopardise his chances of a World Cup berth later this year.
Sutton has, of course, been left impressed at Juranovic’s overall impact at Celtic. In his Daily Record column this weekend, he chose to highlight some of the ‘little things’ that show he’s content at the club.
He told the paper: “Juranovic has performed well, collected two winners medals already and he seems content at his work. Now, let’s be clear, I don’t know the guy at all. Never met him. But everything you hear about him says he’s strong within the group and a popular one amongst the squad.
“You can see his acts on the pitch. When Daizen Maeda scores a goal, he joins him and copies the Japanese’ goal celebration. When Giorgos Giakoumakis was on a hat-trick against Ross County in March, Celtic got a penalty and Juranovic, the normal taker, chucked the Greek the ball to complete his treble. It’s just those little things which say a lot.
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“Then, when you couple that with the type of performances that he had against Rangers at home in the 3-0 win and the Panenka penalty he scored in Leverkusen, it shows the quality of player as well as character.
“If someone chaps the door for him, Celtic could ask for in excess of £15m. Which would be some profit on the fifth of what they paid 10 months ago. But my basic point is: Where would be the point of that right now? For either party? Celtic won’t let this guy leave. Why would you?”
I’m with Sutton on this one. I don’t think there’s any reason to panic when it comes to a potential Juranovic departure.
It’s natural that clubs are showing interest. He won’t be the only Celtic player in that boat this summer. We have good players.
But there’s no sign this is Juranovic’s time to exit. This is a Celtic team still building towards a peak and it feels far too soon to cash in on him at this point, unless it becomes silly money.
Ange Postecoglou’s group at least deserves a crack at the Champions League without major exits, then we can see what the scene looks like next summer.
In other news, Aberdeen confirm intentions for Liam Scales but Jim Goodwin makes it clear Celtic still value defender.