Celtic have made an offer to sign Robin Olsen from Roma, but wanted the Serie A side to pay half his wages for the duration of a loan, Italian newspaper Il Messaggero reports this week.
The paper say that Olsen had his heart set on a return to Cagliari but that they will now continue with Alessio Cragno after he returned from a serious injury.
Celtic, who have also signed Vasilis Barkas from AEK Athens, are said to have an offer on the table but want Roma to pay as much as half of his contract.
The Italian side, perhaps unsurprisingly, are not keen on this notion and have rejected the proposal, the report states.
There’s no timeline on when this bid occurred, so it could well have been prior to Barkas’ arrival.
However, if we’re looking to get Olsen on the cheap, perhaps it’s with a view to having him as a viable back-up option.
The 36-cap Swedish international has excellent experience at the age of 30 and has experience of Champions League and Europa League football, with Copenhagen and Malmo former clubs.
As back-up options go we could do far, far worse but it seems that Roma may be looking to cash in on the player after he failed to impress as a number one choice.
I’m pretty happy with Barkas and Scott Bain as it stands but if there’s a good, affordable goalkeeper out there then I would also like a bit more depth.
We have plenty of time to find that, with the transfer deadline not until October 5th this year.
Olsen may not be that man, but the pursuit of the player is a sign we’re on the hunt for quality.
In other news, Celtic’s Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round opponents have been confirmed.
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