OPINION
Celtic’s top brass are likely to be gutted after the club’s hopes of signing Sunderland sensation Josh Maja appear to be dead and buried.
The Scottish Sun reported last week the Scottish champions were working on a deal to sign the hotshot striker from the League One club on a pre-contract agreement this summer.
But hopes of pulling off a Mousa Dembele-style deal in which they would take advantage of cross-border rules to pay just a small compensation fee to sign a player who will be a free agent in the summer are seemingly over.
L’Equipe journalist Emery Taisne reported on his personal Twitter account early this afternoon that Maja has agreed to join Bordeaux this month.
Info @lequipe : Bordeaux va enregistrer la signature du jeune attaquant de Sunderland Josh Maja. Contrairement à Bellanova, il rejoindra le club dès cet hiver. Plus d’infos à venir sur le site @lequipe
— Emery Taisne (@EmeryTaisne) January 23, 2019
The Ligue 1 club have the cash to blow Celtic out of the water, even though they are only 10th in the division and unlikely to qualify for Champions League football next season.
They are likely to have offered Maja, 20, a contract that is beyond the reach of the Glasgow outfit, who don’t tend to pay any of their players more than £25,000-a-week.
Losing out on a target of Maja’s potential is a major blow as he has demonstrated such immense potential since graduating from the Sunderland youth team.
The front man has scored 15 goals for the Black Cats this season, 14 in league competition, and been the driving force behind their promotion bid.
There had been a suggestion Lewis Morgan could join Sunderland on loan to smooth Celtic’s pursuit of Maja.
Whether the attacker’s potential exit to the north-east is still on the table is unknown at this point, as hopes of landing the London-born forward disappear into dust for Celtic.
Officials will need to turn elsewhere to solve the club’s need for centre-forward reinforcements this year.