CAMILO DURAN JETS IN: ARE CELTIC FINALLY ABOUT TO BREAK SELF-IMPOSED SIGNING EMBARGO?
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 3 minutes ago
- 3 min read
One of my friends reminded me today, that, as of this morning, it is now 310 days since Celtic last paid money for an actual player signing. A shocking stat, but not really surprising when you consider all the dithering and procrastination that has plagued Celtic's approach to recruitment for a number of years now.
Thankfully, it seems that all of this is about to come to an end. At least according to sources in Azerbaijan. Celtic look set to conclude a deal with FK Qarabag for Colombian forward Camilo Duran.
Camilo Duran Set for Medical and 3 Year Deal Tomorrow, Reports Claim
According to Azerbaijani news outlet sportinfo, Duran left Qarabag’s pre-season training camp earlier today. He will undergo a medical tomorrow before signing an initial 3-year-deal with the option of another 1 year thereafter.
It seems however that, yet again, the dithering of Celtic’s negotiation team has cost them in real financial terms. I mentioned earlier today that the fee Qarabag were set to receive for Duran, a breakout star of the club’s Champions League campaign last season, was somewhere in the region of 3 million Euros.
However, the latest Azerbaijani reports, and bear in mind my own linguistic skills don’t quite extent to cover that particular language as of yet, state a fee of around 5.5 million Euros. Now, the discrepancy may be down to the length of contract, the one-year option, or some other unknown performance-related extras tacked onto the deal at the last minute.
More likely though, another club has probably stepped in with another offer, forcing Celtic to up their offer at the last minute or risk losing out once again on a player due to corporate negligence.
A reminder, the player has been available to sign since the end of May and Qarabag have made no secret of the fact they were willing to listen to offers. If he does complete this deal, Duran will be the 8th player this summer to leave the Azerbaijani club as they also undertake a rebuild of their own.
Putting it bluntly, if Celtic knew this was a player they wanted, he should have been snapped up weeks ago, joined the squad for a full pre-season camp and been raring to go for tonight’s friendly at Shelbourne.
However, as is also the case with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Celtic’s inability to get these deals done early means neither player will likely make any appearances for another week or two.
Duran will, I believe, make for a fine addition to the Celtic squad. He may not be the “marquee signing” that we all want. However, he is a capable striker, who can also on the right wing, and has scored at the very highest level in club football, the UEFA Champions League.
For once, credit will be given where credit is due. It may have taken far longer than I would have liked, but this is a great bit of business from Celtic. Also, at 24, Duran could easily turn a nice profit for us in a few years if he lives up to his billing.
Time will tell.