Celtic’s failure to secure Fraser Forster’s services for a further campaign has seen them switch to alternative targets, according to The Scottish Sun.
Forster starred on loan with the Bhoys from Southampton last season, but is said to have been priced out of a return to Celtic Park by his current employers, whom it is claimed could keep him as competition for their other two senior shot-stoppers next term.
If reports are true, then before the 32-year-old (who has six caps for England) there was another international glovesman in Celtic’s sights. And a move for that man would make sense now given the situations developing in both Glasgow and at his current employers, Sheffield Wednesday.
For the second time in his Wednesday career, Keiren Westwood (who was once tipped by The Sun as a potential Forster successor at St. Mary’s, at the time of Celtic’s interest) finds himself frozen out at Hillsborough.
But Westwood, the two-time Owls player of the year, still has a year to run on his contract in Yorkshire (which, according to Silly Season, is worth £30,000 a week). And after Wednesday released several other high-earning players at the end of last month, including their top scorer Steven Fletcher and fan favourites, Fernando Forestieri and Sam Hutchinson, it would appear as though cutbacks could be high on the agenda this summer.
How they might wish that the two-year deal they gave to Westwood last year was only half that in length. And it is not hard to imagine Wednesday taking what they can for the player, despite the seven-figure fees attached to his name in seasons gone by.
Whether or not that appeals to Celtic remains to be seen (and the Bhoys have of course changed managers since last being linked with Westwood). But the 35-year-old would surely have few qualms with a move to the side currently managed by Neil Lennon, whom he once claimed via The Irish Independent that every Ireland player ‘will have a soft spot for’.
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