Following the claim Diego Maradona is tempted by the Aston Villa vacancy created by the resignation of former Celtic boss Martin O’Neill, the journalists down in the Midlands deserve some credit for creating a ripple of laughter across the footballing world yesterday.
The latest claim from that part of the world suggests West Brom are considering a bid for Celtic striker Marc-Antoine Fortune. The 29-year-old spent the second-half of the 2008/09 season on loan with West Brom under Tony Mowbray, who then signed the striker from Nancy for a reported £3.8million during his brief stint as Celtic manager.
According to the Birmingham Mail: “Although Fortuné is not regarded as a goalscorer, he is highly thought of in the role of a lone striker, which would fit the system being used by Roberto Di Matteo. Albion’s interest remains at a preliminary stage, however, with the French-Guyanan merely one of several frontmen being monitored as the transfer window enters its final fortnight.”
With £9.5million – or whatever the actual figure is – generated from the sale of Aiden McGeady to Spartak Moscow, it’s still not clear how many more players Celtic will try to sign between now and the end of the transfers window. As a consequence, it’s not clear which players will definitely remain at the club.
However, Fortune played well enough during Saturday’s 1-0 win at Inverness Caley Thistle and it remains doubtful whether Celtic will sign any more strikers. Craig Bellamy is set to join Cardiff City on loan after initially being heavily linked with Celtic and the talk of James McFadden joining for £4million is either laughable or painful.
And while Celtic may have raised some serious cash from the sale of Aiden, the annual accounts published today showed a loss of around £2million and turnover dropping from £72.59million to £61.72million so an argument could be put forward (by the Board, if not the fans) to try and get the best out of the players now at the club.
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