Celtic’s long-running association with Mathias Kvistgaarden was finally put to bed on Tuesday.
Kvistgaarden had been a Celtic target for nearly two years and the Hoops tried to sign him from Brondby in the January transfer window.
But Brondby rejected the offer as they wanted to keep the Danish forward within their ranks until at least the summer.
Kvistgaarden attracted a recent RC Lens transfer bid, but he has actually signed for EFL Championship side Norwich City.
The 23-year-old has penned a four-year deal and Sky Sports reporter Anthony Joseph says Celtic have been left ’embarrassed’ due to the transfer fee.
Celtic failed to discover Kvistgaarden £6.9m release clause
It was being reported at the end of the season that Brondby were looking for around £12m to sell Kvistgaarden this summer.
Perhaps that was the reason why Celtic were put off pursuing a permanent deal, the same could be said for Eintracht Frankfurt and West Ham United.
But Joseph has revealed that within Kvistgaarden’s contract existed a release clause worth £6.9m, unbeknown to the clubs who negotiated with Brondby.
However, Norwich City were wise to this and managed to trigger the release clause, meaning Brondby were forced to sell for around £5m less than they’d have hoped for.
It’s clear from Joseph’s post on X that the Hoops were completely unaware of the near £7m release clause, which is undoubtedly within their range of financial manoeuvrability.
Monumental failure by Celtic hierarchy
Joseph uses the word ’embarrassment’ and quite frankly, there is no better word to describe how Celtic should be feeling right now.
The Bhoys were first credited with an interest in Kvistgaarden in August 2023, and the rumours have persisted ever since.
Celtic even sent scouts to watch Kvistgaarden, as exclusively revealed by 67 Hail Hail in November last year.
Yet having monitored the player for all this time, they were unable to discover Kvistgaarden’s release clause in his Brondby deal.
Joseph paints the picture that it was the fault of all the clubs who tried to negotiate with Brondby to sign Kvistgaarden, excluding Norwich of course.
So how was it so easy for the Canaries to trigger the £6.9m fee when they only ignited their interest in the striker last month?
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