Clearing up the rush of Cameron Carter-Vickers reports; Celtic reality is nothing to worry about

By John McGinley

March 4, 2023

Over the last 24 hours, you may have seen a rush of reports and social media posts regarding Cameron Carter-Vickers and a potential Celtic exit this summer.

The Scottish Sun and other websites out there, with authors writing under a pseudonym, are carrying comments from renowned transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano suggesting that he is attracting attention from the English Premier League.

First of all, it’s important to clarify these were comments made by Romano when asked for his opinion on a podcast and not a report published by the journalist himself as news. They were also made five days ago – it wasn’t a breaking development.

Secondly, Romano simply says Premier League clubs are ‘exploring’ the Carter-Vickers possibility. He doesn’t name specific clubs, nor fees and even notes that Celtic will likely look to protect their asset. It’s not Romano’s fault everything he says is carried in the search of headlines, but this is pretty obvious stuff.

As long as Carter-Vickers is performing well, he is going to be on the radar of clubs in big leagues. That’s just the reality of the modern football market, as we’ve seen at Celtic for over a decade now. It’s nothing to worry about.

Of course the defender is attracting attention. He has been utterly superb for the Bhoys, is a full international with the United States and even played at the World Cup. It would be weirder and more newsworthy if no Premier League teams were looking at him.

Carter-Vickers isn’t immune to Celtic model

Ange Postecoglou has already made it perfectly clear that all of his players are tradeable if Celtic see any deal as a benefit to the club. He doesn’t play favourites. Look at Josip Juranovic’s and Giorgos Giakoumakis’ exits in January. This time last year most people would not have predicted that to transpire.

A Carter-Vickers exit this summer is possible if the player deems that he needs a new challenge or wants a big money move. That’s a career decision he has to make for himself. Celtic, around that, will ensure that fair value is given by any suitors with the player’s contract running all the way until 2026.

Unless we hear of specific interest or inklings of a firm transfer offer, vague comments on Premier League interest or ‘rumours’ are pretty meaningless, even if the comments of journalists are being amplified beyond their initial reach.

In other news, Emilio Izaguirre set for class Celtic reunion.