Celtic are waiting on key appointments before finalising a move for Airdrie prospect Thomas Robert, The Daily Record has reported on Monday.
Robert recently spent a period at Lennoxtown training under the watchful eye of head of youth recruitment Chris McCart.
The Record reports today that his agents have been in discussions with head of football operations Nick Hammond about a formal move.
However, Celtic have taken the decision to let a new management structure, consisting of a head coach and director of football, make the final decision on bringing in the Frenchman.
No deal is currently on the table for the 20-year-old.
It’s in contrast to the decision to push for Liam Shaw’s signature from Sheffield Wednesday. That pre-contract has been tied up, with the young midfielder due to arrive at Celtic on July 1st.
Is it a sign that Hammond’s influence is now waning at Celtic? Shaw was only announced 12 days ago, yet now the club are making sure new personnel get a say in another signing.
That makes perfect sense of course, but it’s an interesting change in approach.
Robert has scored four goals and assisted twice in 15 appearances for Airdrie this season [Transfermarkt]. He returned to action with the rest of the lowers leagues on Saturday and will get plenty of action between now and May.
If nothing else, the story reinforces the importance of making senior appointments as quickly as possible. Robert may never turn out to be an outstanding Celtic talent, but there’ll be others out there and we can’t afford to waste any time with recruitment.
In other news, Luca Connell has been called up to the Irish U21 side.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
