This is quite bizarre. Not that I am complaining as we should be expecting these kinds of bids for our players but a report last night claimed that Barcelona are ‘preparing’ a bid of £20m for Celtic’s World Cup star Josip Juranovic.
According to the Daily Record, the Catalan giants are trying to tempt the Hoops to sell with an ambitious bid but here is the caveat.
They can’t bid unless they sell.
We reported yesterday that Barca President Joan Laporta said that his club are unlikely to make any January signings due to Financial Fair Play regulations imposed on them by La Liga.
Barcelona’s debt stands at around an incredible €1b, and Laporta blamed the previous regime of Josep Maria Bartomeu for leaving a ‘terrible inheritance’. [BBC]
However, at least the good news is that at least the figures being reported are a closer reflection of what Juranovic is worth.
The Croatian came into the world’s spotlight after his performances in Qatar but it was the Croats knocking the favourites, Brazil, out of the tournament that really made clubs sit up and take notice.
Juranovic is currently taking a week-long break from football to recover before returning to Celtic but if the speculation continues in this fashion, I would be very surprised if we saw him in a Celtic jersey again.