There’s nothing fans love more than an ambitious January signing – so could Christian Eriksen to Celtic actually be a goer?
The Danish media are certainly talking it up, with a former Manchester United midfielder suggesting it ‘makes sense’ for four big reasons. The Denmark midfielder looks set to leave United in January to make room for new signings as Ruben Amorim shapes the squad in his image. Brendan Rodgers is a known admirer of the 32-year-old and, with Fabrizio Romano reporting he will leave Old Trafford this winter, a move to Celtic has been put forward as one option.
There are a number of huge hurdles that would need to be cleared first, namely his wages – he currently earns a reported £150,000 a week and would likely need to be Hoops’ top earner, by a distance, even if he took a dramatic cut. But some within the Danish media seem keen on the idea and SpilXperten put the theory to Paul Parker, who spent five years at United in the 1990s.
He believes his familiarity with Rodgers, and Denmark teammate Kasper Schmeichel, are two reasons it might well be on. He also sees the fact he speaks perfect English, and the appeal of being the box office draw in the SPFL, as other factors that work in its favour. And he even labels it an ‘obvious’ move.
Parker said: “Eriksen to Celtic makes sense. Brendan Rodgers knows him from the Premier League, and he knows Schmeichel from the national team through many years. Language won’t be an issue either, so it seems like an obvious move.
“I still believe Eriksen has the level for more than the Scottish league, but that’s no criticism of Celtic. It’s a big club, and Eriksen can cap off a fantastic career with a great experience at Celtic, where the entire city revolves around football.
“All eyes will be on him, as he’ll be the biggest star in the league. He’s one of the best players of the modern era in the Premier League, so he must also be ready for the considerable pressure that comes with that. But he’s a very calm guy, so I actually think he’ll handle that just fine. I hope so, too, because he’s such a thoroughly likable and professional person. He deserves a dignified end to his career.”
If Celtic were looking to add some experience to midfield, then a less expensive, less sexy option that’s emerged in the last few days is Burnley’s Josh Brownhill. He’s enjoying a great season with five goals to his name in the Championship but the Clarets’ skipper is out of contract in the summer. Former striker Carlton Palmer reckons he’d cost around £2m – but doesn’t think they should sell the 28-year-old.
Palmer told Football League World: “Burnley have two choices, they can let the contract run down and get promotion and worry about it later, or cash in in the January transfer window, with the likes of Rangers, West Ham, Celtic, even Leeds United (possibly interested). But you certainly wouldn’t want to be selling him to anybody who is going to be competition to you in terms of getting promotion from the division.
“At the end of the day, this is the last chance you’re going to get any money for him, what is he worth? I don’t know, at 28 years of age, I don’t know how much money they could actually generate for him, with his contract out at the end of the season. Maybe £1.5 to 2million, and maybe Burnley might think ‘you know what, we’ll keep him until the end of the season, if we get promoted we might end up with nearly £200 million.
“So it’s a gamble worth taking, the player’s got his head down and it’s not impacting the player. Really difficult situation for Burnley, but he’s very, very good at this level.”
And former Celtic and Aston Villa midfielder Stiliyan Petrov is looking forward to watching his two old teams do battle in the Champions League next month. He can’t split it either – and even thinks as many as FIVE Celtic stars are capable of walking into the Villa first team.
The former midfielder told Football365: “You’ve got Alistair Johnston. You’ve got Callum McGregor, who is an incredible midfielder. Daizen Maeda, not many teams would turn down his energy, the way he plays. Kyogo , the way he plays, he is very positive in his movement.
“Hatate, he is really maturing, he’s getting stronger and stronger, scoring and creating goals, he is a box-to-box midfielder and you don’t see many midfielders like that at the moment. Many of those players can be in that (Aston Villa) team.
“I am looking forward to that game because there are two great managers, two attacking teams and I think it will be a cracking game because there is a lot of space to be exploited, a lot of speed, a lot of good technical players. I’m looking forward to that game.