Pundit Kevin Graham has recently made a claim about Celtic’s loan signing of central defender Shane Duffy.
Graham was a guest on the latest episode of the ‘A Celtic State of Mind’ podcast and the panel discussed multiple issues involving the Bhoys. They discussed the club’s business in the summer transfer window and Graham talked about the club’s capture of Duffy. Graham believes that Celtic signed Duffy because of his Hoops background and thought that they were ‘getting used’ in the process of him potentially moving to a club like West Ham.
Duffy is known to be a boyhood Celtic fan and the likes of West Ham, West Bromwich Albion and Burnley were interested in signing him before he moved to Parkhead (as per the Daily Mail).
Will Duffy become a Celtic icon?
Yes
No
Graham said that he believed at one point that Celtic were being used so that Duffy would move to another English club.
He said: “Shane Duffy, 28-year-old, experienced international player – we’ve probably only got him because of his Celtic background. Again, it was one of those names – it was kicked up weeks ago and I was always a bit worried that we were just getting used as a tool maybe for him to get a permanent move to one of the other [mid-table] English clubs – your West Hams or somebody like that.”
TIF Thoughts…
Duffy, who is now valued at £8.55 million (Transfermarkt), has been pretty impressive for the Hoops since he joined the club on loan from Brighton. He has already scored two goals and has assisted once despite playing at centre-back. He has already become the club’s highest-rated player in the Premiership this season (as per WhoScored).
That is a reflection of the impact that he’s made at Parkhead in a limited amount of time and since he’s a boyhood Celtic fan, the fans may have some extra affection for the Irish central defender. They can only hope that the 28-year-old guides them to winning their 10th Premiership title in a row this season.