Scottish Premiership champions Celtic would love to sign Fraser Forster and Moi Elyounoussi on permanent deals from Premier League Southampton.
Ralph Hasenhuttl has admitted that Southampton may be forced to lower their demands for their out-of-favour players, speaking to the Daily Echo – and this should be music to the ears of Celtic fans everywhere.
After all, two of Neil Lennon’s star performers this season arrived at Parkhead on loan from St Mary’s last summer.
Norway international Moi Elyounoussi rediscovered the electric form he showed at Basel after swapping the South Coast for Scotland, producing 13 goals and assists in just 20 matches for Celtic.
Fraser Forster, meanwhile, rolled back the years in even more impressive fashion. The one-time England goalkeeper had lost his way badly at Southampton but if he had a point to prove then prove it he certainly did.
Armed with a series of physics-defying stops, Forster was the undoubted Man of the Match in the most fortunate of League Cup final victories against Rangers. And with Celtic winning a Europa League group for the first time in their history, the 32-year-old dragged the Hoops to a whole new level on the continent too.
In an ideal world, Celtic would jump at the chance to sign the £16 million winger and the £10 million shot-stopper on a permanent basis this summer – though the finances involved were likely to pose a problem. Then again, Hasenhuttl’s honesty might just get their hopes up.
“You have to remember that the players we want to sell will be worth less money,” said the former RB Leipzig boss.
The Independent reported a few months ago that Celtic would have to pay a club-record £10 million fee to keep Elyounoussi in green and white. But maybe they won’t have to write his name into the history books to get the deal done after all.
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