DAILY RECORD RECYCLES TIRED TROPE WITH LATEST EVAN FERGUSON CELTIC STORY
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- Jul 13
- 3 min read
Celtic are in something of a holding position right now with regards to transfers.
We know Shin Yamada is coming in a few days, though almost certainly too soon for Celtic’s next pre-season game against Sporting Lisbon in midweek, and probably next Saturday’s game with Newcastle too.
Though, I expect the player will probably be paraded on Saturday if all goes well with his medical.
It's a similar, though slightly less clear-cut, story with Michel-Ange Balikwisha. The Belgian winger missed training with Antwerp on Friday, as speculation mounts about his own impending move to Celtic.
Celtic are also still in the hunt for Napoli’s Giuseppe Ambrosino, despite Cremonese and possibly Cagliari also showing interest in the Azzurri under-21 star.
All three could well be Celtic players by the end of this week. There’s also the chance we might sign someone else who hasn’t even been reported on yet.
One player I confidently predict we won’t be signing is Evan Ferguson. I know, you know it, The Daily Record knows it. But that didn’t stop them from running yet another nonsensical story about the player and his supposed link to Celtic today.
Evan Ferguson, Celtic Fan Possibly, but He’ll Never Be A Celtic Player
The Brighton striker is set to move to Roma on a season long loan.
Now, as I have said before, Celtic’s only real chance of landing a player in Ferguson’s current wage bracket would be a loan deal. However, in this case, it won’t happen for one simple, financial reason.
Roma are willing to pick up the entirety of the young striker’s full annual salary of around 1.5 million pounds.
That means, Roma will most likely sign Evan Ferguson; Celtic would never sanction such a deal. It would go against our established transfer model to pay out that much money for a player Celtic have no chance of buying at the end of the loan spell.
Also, the fact that Roma are planning to pay the full salary suggests they see Ferguson as being an integral part of their first team plans next season.
Ferguson would not be guaranteed a start at Celtic.
The Record’s entire rationale for this “story” seems to be “erm, well he plays for the Republic of Ireland, so he must be a Celtic fan, so obviously they’ll want to sign him.”
With the greatest of respect to Evan Ferguson, if he wasn’t Irish, this wouldn’t even be a story.
As for the Daily Record, well level of lazy reporting is hardly unexpected at this point.
I know it’s a slow news day guys, and maybe you’d rather be in the pub, but come on, at least put in a little effort and some journalistic flair into your work, rather than just rehashing an old story from a month ago that has long since died a death.
Yes, Celtic have an extensive historical connection to Ireland, going right back to our foundation. We are all immensely proud of this, and so we should be.
But, does that mean we’ll sign any player, regardless of price tag, salary and recent form, just because he knows the words to The Soldiers Song? No, it doesn’t!
