Southampton are reportedly willing to pay £10m for Celtic midfielder Stuart Armstrong despite the fact he has just a year left on his contract.
Many of Celtic’s best and brightest have had their head turned by the riches and the glamour of the Premier League in recent seasons.
And with The Sun claiming that Southampton are planning a £10 million move for influential midfielder Stuart Armstrong, Bhoys fans could be forgiven for feeling a sense of déjà vu.
Gary Hooper, Joe Ledley, Ki Sung-Yeung and co were all enticed below the border in recent seasons while Virgil van Dijk and Victor Wanyama both took their game to new levels after swapping Celtic for Southampton. However, it appears that Armstrong is unlikely to follow in their footsteps any time soon.
Celtic’s Stuart Armstrong was arguablty the Scottish Premiership’s best player last season
Though the 25-year-old has arguably outgrown the rather humble surrounds of the Scottish Premiership, scoring 17 goals from central midfield in a remarkable individual campaign, it appears that he owes a debt of loyalty to the club that gave him a chance after he made his name at Dundee United in the winter of 2015.
Happy
“I am pretty confident the club and the agent will come to an agreement,” Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers told the Evening Times of Armstrong, who years a year to run on his contract.
“He’s happy here in this environment and he knows he is improving and developing. So let’s wait and see. He’s someone I’m keen to keep.
“The last thing he needed to worry about was contract talks. We wanted to put that to one side. I’m sure that will be resolved over the course of the season. He’s now an international player so let’s wait and see. He’s someone we want to keep.”
And it would be a major surprise if they didn’t. The Express claimed in May that West Brom were willing to offer Celtic £8 million, and Armstrong £30,000-a-week, a big increase on his current pay packet in Scotland.
Yet, two months on, it appears that those approaches have fallen on death ears. It may seem inevitable that, one day, Armstrong will feel the need to test himself in arguably the most competitive league in European football.
But that day is not this day.
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