Former Celtic star and current BT Sport pundit John Hartson believes the reported valuation of James Forrest is ridiculous, as reported by The Evening Times.
At the weekend, the Celtic winger was reported to be an £8m target for English Premier League high-flyers Liverpool, a good bit below his worth to the Hoops in the eyes of most supporters.
Given he has only recently signed a new long-term contract at the club, it seems ridiculous to suggest he would leave for a fee well below our current market value for players.
Hartson agrees, believing the winger should be valued at as much as £24m.
In his Evening Times column, the former Hoops striker said:
We are talking about a boy who has scored goals at international and Champions League level and who has blossomed into an winger who guarantees double-figure goals.
So spare me the £8m chat. If – and it is a big if – there was anyone looking at Forrest then they would need to triple that number just to get Celtic interested.
The days of English clubs coming in and getting players for pennies are long gone. Peter Lawwell isn’t the type to let players slip out of the club without getting their market value and in Brendan Rodgers you have a guy who knows exactly what a player is worth.
Losing Forrest at this stage of the season is unthinkable given his impact over the last few months. He’s emerged as one of our most important players, scoring 11 goals and assisting an impressive 17 times in 34 appearances.
We can’t afford to be selling our best players right now, with teams breathing down our neck at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
Thankfully the whole business appears to just be paper talk, a traditional part of the transfer window silly season.