Celtic face competition from Crystal Palace to sign Oliver Burke in a £10million-plus summer deal, according to the Scottish Daily Mail.
The print edition of the newspaper claims today (Thursday, back page) that the Premier League club are keen to open talks to land the West Brom forward in the forthcoming window.
The Mail report Burke is keen to make his Celtic loan a permanent switch but the Scottish champions have yet to make a decision on whether the eight-figure transfer would be good value.
Good move for Celtic?
It was a smart move from West Brom to green light Burke’s loan move to Celtic in January. The forward has reinvigorated a career that was stagnating and showed he can cut it at a high level after a couple of difficult seasons. Five goals in 14 appearances have demonstrated Burke’s eye for goal, and his power and pace are strong attributes, but there are plenty of rough edges to his game that need smoothing down. Spotrac reports that the Scot is earning £30,000-a-week on his deal at West Brom, and they paid £15million to sign him from RB Leizig in 2017. The Baggies are going to want to recoup most of that money, but Celtic must set a limit – Burke is worth no more than £10million – and walk away if the fee goes higher than that.
This is Futbol rating 7/10
Likely to happen?
There must be some doubt, as to whether Burke’s loan becomes permanent, despite the player making no secret of his wish to make his Parkhead move a full-time one. Celtic’s record signing is Odsonne Edouard, who joined for £9million last summer, and it’s difficult to see them spending more than that on the Scottish attacker.
This is Futbol rating 4/10