Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce has reportedly identified Celtic outcast Logan Bailly as a replacement for Manchester United loanee Sam Johnstone.
With Aston Villa facing up to the prospect of influential loanee Sam Johnstone returning to Manchester United in the coming days, manager Steve Bruce faces a difficult task identifying a new number one goalkeeper capable of providing the platform for a promotion push next season.
Yet, few expected that Celtic outcast Logan Bailly would be particularly high on his hit list. However, The Scottish Sun claimed that the 31-year-old, who has not made a single appearance since Brendan Rodgers took over at Parkhead last summer, was on Bruce’s seemingly extensive radar.
Bailly has only played three times for Celtic since arriving from OH Leuven in his homeland of Belgium in the summer of 2015. And his only run-outs this season have been with the club’s Under-20s.
However, while many would have predicted that Celtic’s forgotten man would jump at the chance of kick-starting his career with a club of Villa’s stature, it appears that Bailly has other factors in mind when choosing his next destination.
Leaving for Liege?
“I always said that I would like to return to Belgium because I have my family and I am a little far from everyone,” Bailly, who began his career in the youth ranks of Standard Liege, told the Daily Record. “If Standard calls me, of course I will come back.
“Since I’ve been playing football, I have always said that one day or another I will play or will finish my career at Standard.”
Therefore, it appears that Villa have been shunted all the way back to square one.
The Telegraph reports that Johnstone (below) has offers from Premier League duo Bournemouth and Everton while Villa’s young Italian goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini will spend another season on loan at Atalanta in Serie A.
Therefore, perennial understudy Mark Bunn is the club’s only senior net-minder as it stands.
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