Last week, it was reported by Fabrizio Romano that Josip Juranovic was expected to leave Celtic this summer.
However, it was a rather vague assertion, with no teams named as being interested and no indication of the nature of that interest.
We now at least have the first part of that cleared up with an update from Sky Sports this afternoon.
The broadcaster reports in their 26/06 transfer live blog [13:42] that Spanish side Atletico Madrid are keen on the Celtic right-back this summer.
We still don’t have the second part of the question you asked in a situation like this – how seriously interested are they?
For instance, they could just be monitoring him as an option or they could genuinely be preparing to make a move. There are a lot of things covered by “interested in signing”, which is the language in the report.
They do say that Juranovic’s Croatian teammate Sime Vrsaljko is out of contract, with just veteran Daniel Wass as an alternative, so Diego Simeone is in need of fresh blood in the position.
Juranovic had an excellent debut season at the Bhoys, so naturally he is going to be attracting attention from across Europe – especially since he is an important part of a very good Croatia team.
Still, Celtic hold all the cards here when it comes to an exit. If someone does come in with an offer, then it’ll need to be something significant because Juranovic has a deal that runs until 2026.
Celtic will hold their ground, as the club always do, unless an acceptable bid is put on the table. But this situation is a tester for the direction of recruitment at the Bhoys.
Reporting close to Celtic from Football Scotland suggests that he is valued in excess of £15m.
The player seems happy at Celtic, which is important too. He’s hardly agitating for a move. That also strengthens the Bhoys’ position, knowing they’re not going to have a player forcing an exit.
As always, we’ll wait and see how it all plays out. Every supporter will be hoping Ange Postecoglou can keep the big talents in this group together for a Champions League push.
In other news, Stiliyan Petrov is excited about imminent Celtic move for Jota.
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