Jose Cifuentes has already suggested that he would be interested in joining Scottish Premiership champions Celtic.
This time last year, Celtic let John McGinn slip through their fingers as Aston Villa signed a boyhood Hoops fan for just £2.7 million, as reported by the Guardian. 12 months on, the former Hibernian talisman is starring in the Premier League and his value has gone through the roof.
It is impossible not to be reminded of McGinn with the Jose Cifuentes saga coming to a very similar conclusion.
The star of Ecuador’s U20 World Cup campaign earlier in the summer, Cifuentes looks the real deal. He has got bags of energy, a wonderful passing range and a fierce shot that will strike fear into the hearts of goalkeepers everywhere.
Speaking to Football Scotland, a player with the potential and the skill-set to provide some much needed competition for ageing skipper Scott Brown suggested that he was flattered to be on Celtic’s radar.
The champions of Scotland are in no position to let a brilliant young midfielder like Cifuentes slip through their grasp, especially as age starts to catch up with the increasingly error-prone Brown.
But, with the links growing cold and FutbolEcuador reporting that Cifuentes is heading to Porto for just £1.6 million, frustrated Celtic fans are once again left questioning the board’s inability to get a deal over the line.
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