CELTIC FRANKO KOVACEVIC “RECORD FEE” TALK IS A SMOKESCREEN
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 15 minutes ago
- 3 min read
It seems that with every refresh of my news feed over the past few days, Celtic are linked with a new striker. We’ve already had the embarrassment of being jilted by Kyogo, even after Celtic had, apparently, briefed sources as far away as here in Japan, that it was a done deal.
I already discussed earlier today why I think Celtic should not pursue their interest in West Ham’s Callum Wilson. However, one striker link that has piqued my interest this week is Croatian striker Franko Kovacevic.
The 26-year-old has had a remarkable footballing journey for one still so relatively young. He’s played in his native Croatia, Cyprus, Germany, The US, Korea, and most recently Slovenia.
He has done well at a number of levels, maintaining a decent goals to games ratio, often playing with unfashionable or under pressure sides.
It is his form since joined Slovenian side Celje last summer that has got Celtic, among numerous other clubs interested.
Celtic Franko Kovacevic Deal is Definitely Doable, Regardless of “Record Fee” Rhetoric
The 6”1 striker, who can also play on the wing, has managed 25 goals in 28 games this season. So, he definitely seems to fit the profile of a natural goalscorer that Celtic desperately need right now.
However, the proclamation by Celje’s President Valerij Kolotilo that he “hasn’t received any offers yet, but he looks forward to a record fee for Celje and Slovenian football” had many Celtic fans despairing, as our board’s “biscuit tin” approach to transfer fees was once again thrown into full focus.
Despite this though, it is important we look beyond the headline here. With the greatest of respect to the standard of their league and the players in it, this is the Slovenian League we7re talking about. It’s not exactly Serie A or La Liga. So the notion of a record fee to a Slovenian club still falls well within Celtic’s budget. In fact, we paid almost double the current Slovenian transfer record for Adam Idah a little over 18 months ago.
The current Slovenian transfer record sits at 5 million Euros, or 4.3 million pounds. As I said, we more almost doubled this when we signed Adam Idah. So, An offer in the range of 5 million pounds or so is probably a good opening gambit for Celtic here, if they decide to make their move.
In fact, I think Kolotilo probably had Celtic in mind when he made this statement at a recent press briefing.
I don’t interpret his record fee remark as “we’re in no hurry to sell”. Instead, I see it as “no timewasters please”.
Celtic missed out on several targets last summer, most notably Danish striker Kasper Dolberg and Norwegian winger Jakob Breum. The later actually prompted the chairman of his club Go Ahead Eagles to come out and directly slate Celtic in the media for their dithering and disrespectful “lowball offers” for the player.
As I said at the time, Celtic were running the risk of being labelled a bunch of chancers, timewasters, or the proverbial tyre-kickers. That was before the utter catastrophe that was transfer deadline day and the 11th hour termination of our deal for Kasper Dolberg from Anderlecht.
So, I think Mr Kolotilo is quite right to draw a line here before negotiations start.
Celtic, or indeed any other club seriously interested in signing Kovacevic need to open with at least a 5 million offer and then take it from there.
The player definitely represents good value at that price, certainly more so than the undoubtedly talented but as yet unproven Hibs forward Kieran Bowie. As usual though, the biggest question is, are Celtic willing to pay the asking price? We should know pretty soon.
Get the biscuit tin open Celtic! Franko Kovacevic is worth it.