The Riley McGree story was not only massive for us as Celtic fans, but it also made huge news over in Australia.
The prospect of Ange Postecoglou teaming up with a young Socceroo that is held in such high regard had whetted the appetite of the Aussies, so much so, that The Roar, Australia’s leading sports opinion website ran a story about McGree’s rise through the Australian youths to Celtic.
As good as the article was, it was in the comments section where the author of the piece gave a very interesting take on what has taken place over the last 24 hours.
You can read the article on McGree on the link above, but here are the authors [Adelaide Andy] comments which gives a fascinating insight as to how the move developed from being a done deal to being on the brink of collapse:
Posted at 12:04 am today, Andy said, “I sent a message to Chris Hodgson last night (he was Riley’s youth coach) and he said the family is over the moon with this news.”
And less than two hours later (01:55am) the author then posted, “Deals off, how shattering for the player and his family.
“Seems to have collapsed in the last 24 hours after being 90% done.”
When asked why it is shattering news by a reader as McGree would be on more money and playing in a better league, the blogger replied, “Its shattering given how massive a club Celtic is.
“No disrespect to Boro, but Celtic are larger in terms of everything from history, trophies to fans across the world.
“However the Championship is a stronger league than Scotland and they play 2 games a week. I’d expect him to start based on the figures quoted on that fee.
“If that transfer fee is accurate, Adelaide United will be looking at around $800k from the sell on clause.
“That also means that he could line up against Man Utd in the FA Cup, which will have a massive worldwide viewing audience.”
Very interesting comments from a blogger who seems to have close connections with the player.
How will this play out? I’m sure we will find out very soon.
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