Kelechi Iheanacho reportedly felt disrespected by Celtic’s contract offer this summer.
Reports in Nigeria have detailed negotiations from the player’s perspective, after details of talks initially emerged over the weekend.
Reports in Scotland have described Iheanacho’s camp walking away from an initial £14,000/week agreement before returning with demands of a £47,000 weekly salary.
The striker then completed a move to Bursaspor in the Turkish second tier, despite Martin O’Neill’s public desire for the club to keep him.
Kelechi Iheanacho won’t return to Celtic. How do you feel Celtic fans? 🤔🍀
Martin O'Neill has defended the call…😬
Kelechi Iheanacho’s offer from Celtic was less than half of existing salary
Own Goal Nigeria quote a source as describing Celtic’s offer to Iheanacho as “disrespectful”.
They claim that it offered a salary less than half that which he was paid on his initial contract last season.
READ MORE: Daizen Maeda makes price tag declaration as Ipswich launch bid for Celtic star
Furthermore, his camp are claimed to have made long-term admirers Bursaspor aware of his unhappiness, and were left “stunned” when the Turkish side met his figure.
Just hours on from the news of Iheanacho’s decision, it also emerged that Marcelo Saracchi wouldn’t be staying at Celtic after a similar saga this summer.
Fewer details have been reported about Saracchi’s negotiations, though his camp have insisted that they did not receive a formal offer from Celtic.
Iheanacho’s camp had made it clear that he would like to stay at Celtic, and he has gone on record about how much he has resonated with the club.
He was brought in through the back door after the closure of the transfer window as a player with a pre-existing relationship with then-manager Brendan Rodgers.
What had initially been a stop-start debut season for the striker ended with him as a fan favourite with five goals in his last eight games — all from the bench.
Who is to blame for Marcelo Saracchi not returning to Celtic? 🤔
The left-back has made his feelings clear….👀🍀
Martin O’Neill on Kelechi Iheanacho not staying at Celtic
Speaking after Celtic’s friendly against Middlesbrough, O’Neill said on Iheanacho: “There are always two sides to every particular transfer.
“He’s gone. I thought we had a deal with him at the time, but that seemingly wasn’t the case, so he has gone to pastures new. There we go.
“I think the option ran out. That’s fine. But the option would be to take someone, I assume, on similar terms as before. That, I think, is probably the difference, really.
“I thought Iheanacho did terrifically well for us, as a real impact player coming on. In my two spells here; he actually started one game for us, which was the game against Dundee United.
“It would have been nice to have him for pre-season, but he has chosen to go elsewhere, and that’s fine. You have to ask him.”
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