Karpaty Lviv director claims Maryan Shved forced bargain Celtic move

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Celtic snapped up Maryan Shved in the January transfer window.

Karpaty Lviv director Oleg Smaliychuk has told the Daily Record that Celtic got something of a bargain for Maryan Shved – and a link may be formed between the clubs.

Shved, 21, has been a sensation in Ukrainian football this season, smashing 11 goals and three assists in 18 appearances for Karpaty Lviv.

Formerly of Sevilla, winger Shved is now one of Ukrainian football’s top young talents, and Celtic moved to land him in January.

Then-manager Brendan Rodgers may not have known a great deal about Shved, but the club swooped in to sign him before loaning him back to Lviv.

Shved will see out the season there before joining up with Celtic at the end of the season, when he will be looking to impress Rodgers’ eventual replacement.

Now, Lviv director Smaliychuk has admitted that Celtic representatives are heading to Ukraine soon, and there could be a link between the two clubs where more deals are struck going either way.

Smaliychuk then revealed that a ‘big European club’ offered £500,000 more than Celtic did for Shved, but he wanted to join the Bhoys – and Lviv allowed him to complete a bargain move.

“Representatives of Celtic are watching him and they will come to Ukraine soon to visit us. We are hoping to start a cooperation between our clubs and establish a link,” said Smaliychuk. “Maryan will be at our club for as long as we need him this season. If the season ends early for us and there is nothing to play for, then of course he will go to Scotland sooner. We want him to be successful in Scotland and the longer time he gets to adapt to his life at Glasgow, the better.”

“The truth is we could have got more money by selling Maryan to another club. We had official offers from three clubs and the biggest bid was from a club that offered £500,000 more than Celtic. A big European club. Despite the speculation, Dynamo Kiev did not make an offer. But I believe the player deserves the right to choose his career and nobody forced him into accepting the bigger offer. In the end, he told us he wanted to move to Celtic. And we were happy to conclude the transfer, even if we could have earned more money,” he added.