Everyone has a plan, boxing legend Mike Tyson famously quipped, until they get punched in the face.
And, in terms of this Celtic transfer target, it seems that everyone has their principles until a massive wad of cash gets dropped on their coffee table.
How much the Scottish Premiership champions would have been willing to offer the 31-year-old to swap the Bundesliga for Parkhead is anyone’s guess. But we’d happily put our reputations on the line and suggest that it would have been a damn sight less than the £8.4 million he is due to earn everyyear in Saudi Arabia.
Celtic goalkeeper target moves to Saudi Arabia
“The Saudi Pro League is only becoming more attractive,” Koen Casteels tells Sporza, sealing his move from Wolfsburg to Al-Qadsiah and becoming quite a bit richer in the process.
“To now say that it is a competition without good football… There are plenty of big names who have made the switch.
“I go there to play football. That’s my job. Of course, I have my ideas about human rights, but I can only say that I have been well received. I will have to experience the rest.”
In Casteels’ defence, the majority of humans on planet earth would struggle to turn down the sort of money he now takes home in Saudi Arabia. The 31-year-old shot-stopper – who could start for Belgium at the European Championships with Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois absent – will earn around £160,000-a-week at Al-Qadsiah.
The newly-promoted Saudi Pro League outfit have already snapped up Uruguay international midfielder Nahitan Nandez, former Fulham striker Luciano Vietto, one-time West Brom loanee Mbaye Diagne and ex-Leeds and Everton goalkeeper Joel Robles.
Joel is expected to play as back-up behind Casteels.
According to the Daily Mail, the former Genk, Hoffenheim and Werder Bremen ace was one of the names under consideration by a Celtic side who are still yet to find a shot-stopper to fill a Joe Hart-shaped void at Parkhead.
Casteels did not mention Celtic, however, when discussing his switch to the Middle East. He did, however, admit that there were discussions over a return to Belgium with Anderlecht.
Celtic still in the goalkeeper market
“The talks with Anderlecht couldn’t go that far,” Casteels says, via VoetbalNieuws.
“Whether I would have chosen them if they had become champions and played in the Champions League? I don’t know, because that is not the case,” he said.
“That’s a lot of ‘ifs’. I don’t know what I would have done in that situation.”
Celtic supporters are no closer to finding out who their number one will be in 2024/25. Patrick Pentz and Michael Zetterer no longer appear to be realistic options, while Coaimhin Kelleher – HITC understands – could command a club-record fee in excess of £15 million.
Aston Villa youngster Viljami Sinisalo, Newcastle United veteran Martin Dubravka and free-agent Etienne Vaessen are certainly more affordable than Liverpool’s number two, while the Horatiu Moldovan option may have presented itself again with the Romanian confirming his desire to move on after only a few months on the Atletico Madrid bench.
“I want to leave Atletico Madrid in the summer or winter,” Moldovan said bluntly this week. “I don’t know if I’ll leave now, because it depends on what I do at the Euros with Romania. It depends on the opportunities that arise.
“But I definitely want to leave to play.
“If a good team from a big league presents itself to me, then I want to go,” adds Moldovan, who will hope to be Romania’s first-choice at this summer’s European Championships. “We will see what offers appear.
“You can’t reject (the chance to sign for) Atletico. But I want to play.”
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
