Celtic have been installed as the favourites to sign Stoke City midfielder Joe Allen this month, according to the latest bookmakers’ odds.
SkyBet priced the Hoops at 4/1 on Monday evening to sign the Wales international before the transfer window shuts at the start of February.
Celtic are ahead in the betting race of West Ham (9/2), with both clubs a long way clear of two other Premier League outfits, Burnley and Southampton (both 18/1).
Allen joined Stoke from Liverpool in 2016 for a fee of £13million and has been one of the team’s outstanding players in the past two seasons.
The Premier League midfielder has worked with Celtic manger Brendan Rogers before, firstly at Swansea then at Liverpool, where he signed Allen for £15million.
Good move for Celtic?
Definitely. Midfield dynamo Allen would be an upgrade on the current central midfielders for Scott Brown, such as Olivier Ntcham, Stuart Armstrong and Callum McCregor. The Wales international would be a brilliant partner for Brown, offering guile, craft and a major goal threat. He has scored three times and supplied five assists from 21 matches this season after his debut Stoke campaign yielded six goals and four assists.
This Is Futbol rating 8/10
Likely to happen?
The numbers would certainly have to add up. It would take a fee of over £15million to land Allen, the kind of fee Celtic have shied well away from despite their dominance of Scottish football. It is likely the Hoops would have to cash in on prize asset Moussa Dembele to the tune of £25million-plus to sign Allen this month.
This Is Futbol rating 4/10