In a recent discussion on The Athletic website, Celtic correspondent Kieran Devlin stated that ‘it is technically possible’ the Bhoys could cut short Shane Duffy’s loan deal in January.
Since arriving at the club on a season-long loan deal from Brighton & Hove Albion back in September, Duffy has gone on to feature 16 times for Neil Lennon’s side, chipping in with two goals and providing one assist along the way.
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Of these 16 appearances, nine have come in the Scottish Premiership, over which the £8.55 million-rated 28-year-old has made an average of 0.9 tackles, 0.7 interceptions and 3.7 clearances per game, culminating in the centre-back averaging a WhoScored match rating of 7.15 – ranking him as the club’s fifth-best performer in the Scottish top flight.
However, things have not gone so well for Duffy in the Europa League, with the former Everton defender averaging a disappointing WhoScored match rating of 6.09 over his three appearances in the competition.
And, in recent fixtures, Duffy has lost his place in Lennon’s starting XI, which has led to questions as to whether the club could send the defender back to Brighton in the summer transfer window, something which Devlin believes is a possibility.
Writing on a recent discussion on The Athletic, he said: “It’s technically possible for Celtic to cut their loan short with Duffy, but I’ve not heard yet whether it’d be a route they’d go down.”
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Transfer Tavern Take
Considering the fact that Duffy himself has confirmed that Celtic pay his Brighton wages in full, which are reported to be around £40k per week, if Lennon is not planning on using the centre-back as part of his starting XI, the argument could easily be made that Celtic should indeed send the player back to his parent club, with the view to potentially reinvesting the money saved on a new addition to the club.
In other Celtic news, the Hoops could make a shock move to sign this Manchester United midfielder in January, find out more here!
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