Celtic will be ‘delighted’ to bank £3million from the sale of Ryan Christie to Bournemouth.
That’s according to the former Leeds United and Aberdeen striker Noel Whelan, who was speaking to Football Insider.
The lowdown
Christie left Celtic to join English Championship promotion hopefuls Bournemouth on Transfer Deadline Day.
The Scot was into the final year of his contract in Glasgow and had recently rejected an offer of an extension (via Sky Sports).
He would have been in a position to strike a contract agreement in January and walk away from the club on a free transfer.
Christie racked up a total of 151 appearances for the Hoops during his time at the club, scoring 41 goals and providing 44 assists (via Transfermarkt).
The latest
Whelan accepts that Celtic will be ‘a little disappointed’ after failing to tie Christie down.
But he says they can be satisfied with securing a ‘bonus’ fee, which essentially covered the cost of £2.5million Odsonne Edouard replacement Giorgos Giakoumakis.
“They are probably a little disappointed, but you can’t allow the contract to get to that stage,” he said.
“To get a fee for him now is better than nothing in six months time. They would have liked to get more for him.
“But, unfortunately, the position they were in was not a strong one at that stage in his contract.
“It was something that was probably a bonus because he could have ended up going for nothing. They’ll be delighted with that.
“That fee has paid for the striker coming in, and a bit more.”
The verdict
Hypothetically, how much would Christie have been worth without the looming possibility of a Bosman transfer? Probably somewhere around the £10million mark.
Celtic, of course, found themselves in similar positions with Odsonne Edouard and Kristoffer Ajer.
That could be seen as poor business, and although the Hoops have done excellently in securing decent profits from their summer sales, they must ensure they are not left in a similar position with their new stars a few years down the line.
In other news, Kevin Phillips dropped this verdict on Giakoumakis.
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