Celtic reporter Kieran Devlin has addressed the reason behind Fergal Harkin’s collapsed move to Parkhead over the summer.

Harkin, a ‘massive’ Hoops fan, appeared to be closing in on a move to Glasgow towards the end of May.

The Irishman rejected the chance to move to Belgium in favour of a move to Scotland, however, a deal ended up falling through.

It now appears as if Dominic McKay, who left the club last month after just 72 days as CEO, played a role in a director of football deal collapsing.

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The Latest: Devlin’s claim

Devlin shared an in-depth feature on The Athletic focusing on former Hoops scout John Park on Thursday.

Within his report, Devlin, who touched on Harkin to Celtic following McKay’s exit, looked at that the pros and cons of a director of football model alongside a traditional head of recruitment set-up.

He claimed that Celtic were on the cusp of appointing Harkin as sporting director before a disagreement between McKay and the Hoops hierarchy led to a deal collapsing.

The Verdict: Back to square one…

The Hoops at one point earlier this year had McKay in as CEO and were linked with moves for Harkin as DoF and Eddie Howe as manager.

They now have none of three names mentioned at Parkhead, with Michael Nicholson the club’s interim CEO alongside manager Ange Postecoglou.

It would’ve been interesting to have seen which direction the club went if they secured Harkin’s services, but now they are back to square one without a permanent CEO or DoF in place.

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