Pundit Darren Jackson believes that Premiership giants Celtic wouldn’t have been able to sign Fraser Forster this summer.
Jackson was recently present on the latest episode of PLZ Soccer’s The Football Show podcast and the panel was talking about many issues surrounding Scottish football and discussed some transfer news as well. One transfer news they focused on was Celtic’s potential signing of Vasilios Barkas and Jackson talked about how the Hoops would have failed to sign Fraser Forster this summer.
Barkas has already arrived in Glasgow to undergo a medical ahead of a Parkhead move. Celtic moved for the AEK Athens man after Forster had decided to stay at Southampton and fight for a first-team spot at the Premier League club.
When talking about whether Celtic could have signed Forster or not, Jackson said: “I don’t know much about him [Barkas], 6 ft 5, they are obviously very happy with what they have seen. I think it is a blow about Fraser Forster. The fans will be disappointed about that.
Did Celtic make the wrong decision by not signing Forster?
Yes, we should have signed him
No, we did the right thing
“I think the wages he’s on – if they can’t come to a compromise, if he is on £70,000 a week, Celtic paying their best couldn’t get anywhere near that. People say ‘well, he wants to play, it’s 10-in-a-row season’, but we all know it’s a short career. You just can’t take a £30,000 drop in wages. So obviously, that must be a big part of the stumbling block.”
Jackson believes that Celtic couldn’t have afforded to sign Forster as he earns a high wage. And he suggests that the ‘keeper would not have taken a wage cut to re-join the Bhoys this summer anyway.
TIF Thoughts…
Football Insider had reported that Forster earns a wage close to £100k a week in his current Southampton contract and that is three times more than Celtic’s highest earners in the squad. The report had claimed that this left Celtic in an ‘impossible battle’ to sign the Englishman.
The goalkeeper was on loan at Parkhead in the 2019/20 season and had made 39 appearances in all competitions as well. He had come up with very good performances in the Europa League against the likes of Lazio, Cluj, and Rennes.
So while he is someone who became an important player for the Bhoys, it is understandable why they didn’t go after him, when you consider the wages he would have perhaps demanded. Since they are now close to signing Barkas, Celtic fans should perhaps move on from Forster.