The summer transfer rumour mill at Celtic is starting to heat up.
Expect this to be one of the biggest and busiest transfer windows in recent times for Celtic, because on top of there being a big clearout, several fresh faces are also expected to arrive.
One early rider on Celtic’s transfer radar is Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Alfie Devine.
The attacking midfielder was out on loan at Championship side Preston North End last season, and he now has eight clubs, including the champions of Scotland, circling for his signature, as reported by Football London.
Is Alfie Devine the kind of player you want to see Celtic sign?
£6m price tag on Celtic transfer target Alfie Devine could rise
What’s interesting is that Preston agreed ‘an option’ with Tottenham to buy their rising star for ‘around £6 million’ before his loan deal last summer, as Football London shared.
While Celtic’s club-record transfer is Arne Engels at £11 million.
For Preston, signing Devine at that price would be ‘more than twice’ their record transfer signing.
But Celtic, alongside relegated Wolves, who will be one of the favourites to earn promotion from the Championship next season, are also interested in the player, and now there is ‘plenty of competition’ for his signature.
According to Football London, that might also mean that Spurs could look for a ‘bigger fee’ than the ‘£6 million’ they agreed with Preston for Devine.
This is also despite the 21-year-old being out of contract at the London club next summer.
How Devine rated for Preston last season
Preston have one of the lowest budgets in the Championship, and at one point this season, they were pushing for promotion under former Hibernian boss Paul Heckingbottom.
Nonetheless, Devine was a standout star for the Lancashire club, as Preston secured a comfortable 14th-placed finish.
Devine played all but one of their 46 league games and earned himself a rating of over seven by Sofascore.
- Championship games: 45
- Starts: 36
- Minutes per game: 69
- Goals: 8
- Assists: 6
- Team of the week: 6
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