The Celtic quest to sign Shane Duffy is ‘on pause’, The Daily Record have reported on Tuesday.
The paper believes that attention has turned to get the deal for midfielder David Turnbull over the line, with no progress made on convincing Brighton & Hove Albion to part with defender Duffy on terms favourable to us.
The English Premier League side want Celtic to pay a fee of between £2m and £3m for a season-long loan, as well as all of his wages.
Salary tracking website Spotrac believes he earns in the region of £40,000-a-week.
Duffy is currently in pre-season training with his club in Scotland.
The addition of the Republic of Ireland international to Neil Lennon’s squad would certainly be a crowd-pleasing one.
Duffy has been the talk of the town amongst supporters throughout August and many are keen to see him add aggression and physicality to the defensive line.
After the departure of Jozo Simunovic we’re looking a little light in the position and Lennon has had to utilise natural midfielder Nir Bitton in recent matches after a drop in Kristoffer Ajer’s form.
Having Duffy around to play as one of a two-man centre defence or even a back-three would be very welcome and hopefully the club continue to hammer away at a potential deal with the Seagulls.
They are well within their rights to hold out for a better financial package of course. Duffy is an asset at Premier League level after all.
However, given he is a Celtic fan and could help us achieve history this season, it would be fantastic if some financial leeway was given to help him achieve his dream of pulling on the green and white hoops.
In other news, Celtic are in the hunt to sign Ajax winger Noa Lang.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
