Mario Pasalic could be sold by Chelsea this summer with Celtic expressing an interest.
As soon as it became apparent that Chelsea could be willing to sell Mario Pasalic this summer, it seemed somewhat inevitable that Celtic would make their interest known.
Manchester City benefited big time from sending Patrick Roberts to Glasgow on an 18-month loan deal after all. The winger departed a boy and returned a mature, trophy seizing flyer with a hardened winning mentality.
Patrick Roberts showed signs of living up to his potential under Brendon Rodgers
Rodgers, after all, has an eye for young talents, having helped launch the careers of Raheem Sterling, Joe Allen and Scott Sinclair, the latter enjoying the most prolific league season of his career as Celtic cruised to the title.
And although Celtic would have to pay big to sign Pasalic permanently, with ABC Sevilla claiming they, or fellow suitors Leeds United, would have to pay up to £9 million, the Croatian is exactly the kind of player that could thrive in Rodgers’ free-flowing, goalscoring blueprint.
He has been likened to Frank Lampard for that all-too-rare ability to make perfectly timed runs into the opposition penalty area. During loan spells at Monaco and AC Milan in the last two seasons, the German-born Pasalic netted 12 goals.
And Rodgers has also made clear that he be willing to break Celtic’s transfer record, set when Martin O’Neil paid £6 million each for Chris Sutton and John Hartson, per the BBC.
Mario Pasalic helped Milan return to Europe after three years away
At just 22 years of age, Celtic could make a handsome profit on Pasalic if he thrives, a la Moussa Dembele, Virgil van Dijk or Victor Wanyama, in Scotland.
Therefore, he could be worth every penny.
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