Celtic have been installed as joint favourites to sign West Brom winger James McClean in January, according to the latest bookmakers’ odds.
BetVictor priced the Hoops at 5/1 on Tuesday morning to land the Premier League winger, 28, next month, placing them equal top in the market along with Stoke and Burnley.
Aston Villa (10/1) and Derby (10/1) are also high in the betting running to sign the former Sunderland winger, who is a lifelong Hoops fan and an extremely popular character among the club’s support for his passionate following of the team on social media.
The West Brom wide man has confessed that it has been his career ambition to move to Parkhead after he was a spectator during the 2-1 win over Barcelona in the Champions League in 2012.
“I’m a Premier League footballer and leaving the ground that night, I was thinking I would give anything to play for Celtic,” he said to magazine the Celtic View, as shown by Celtic head of marketing Kerry Keenan on her personal Twitter account on Wednesday.
Big week for @_Mark_Henderson ? 1st commentary for the 1st team tonight on @CelticTV & a great interview with @JamesMcC_14 in the Christmas @CelticView ? pic.twitter.com/9xfvGRJRoK
— Kerry K (@422Kerry) December 13, 2017
McClean has spent the season on the fringes of the West Brom side, with only five of his 20 appearances in all competitions coming as starts in the Premier League.
The Telegraph has previously reported that West Brom may consider cashing in on McClean in January despite rejecting a bid worth £8million from Burnley last summer.
OPINION
McClean would certainly be an immensely popular signing among the Hoops faithful. And a good one, too, were the club to seal a deal. His directness and quality on the ball would bring a new dimension to Celtic, whose wide attackers have been inconsistent this season, including main men Scott Sinclair and Patrick Roberts. The latter is on a season-long loan and the Hoops will be scouring the market for a permanent replacement in the coming months, assuming they cannot seal a permanent deal for the Manchester City man.