Scottish Premiership champions Celtic are reportedly hoping to sign Pedro Chirivella, who made his Premier League debut under Brendan Rodgers for Liverpool.
After months and months of speculation, Celtic’s marathon chase for John McGinn ended in disappointment.
Despite making a number of offers for the Hibernian midfielder, even matching Aston Villa’s bid with the deadline looming, McGinn will be wearing claret and blue next season after moving to the Midlands for a fee the Scottish Sun believe to be £2.75 million.
The 23-year-old has been one of the most impressive midfielders in Scottish football over the last few seasons and was tipped to be the long-term successor to influential captain Scott Brown in the centre of Celtic’s midfield.
Fortunately, however, the Scottish Premiership champions do appear to have their eyes on a player who could make the failure to sign McGinn a little easier to digest.
Goal are claiming that Celtic are hoping to sign the £3.5 million-rated Liverpool midfielder Pedro Chirivella. The 21-year-old wants to reunite with former Anfield boss Brendan Rodgers, the man who handed him his professional debut in 2015.
And though Chirivella has struggled to make an impression at Liverpool, spending the last two seasons on loan in Holland, a player who once captained Spain at U18 level and earned comparisons with Xabi Alonso has the potential to be the deep-lying midfield signing Rodgers is looking for.
It is too early to suggest that Chirivella would be better than McGinn – but his potential arrival would at least land Celtic the Scott Brown protégé they need.
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