The Celtic defender is attracting plenty of attention at the moment, with Southampton reportedly becoming the latest club to register an interest.
Celtic’s Jozo Simunovic
A report in The Scottish Sun has claimed that Southampton have become the latest club to join the race to sign Celtic defender Jozo Simunovic.
The Scottish Sun previously reported that both Newcastle United and the Saints’ Premier League rivals Crystal Palace sent scouts to Hampden Park to watch the Croatian play for the Hoops in the Scottish League Cup semi-final at the weekend.
Simunovic in action with Rangers’ Barrie McKay
But this latest report from The Scottish Sun suggests that the Bhoys may face an even tougher battle to keep the 22-year-old at Celtic Park as the south coast club are also keeping an eye on his situation.
While Celtic appeared willing to let Simunovic leave the club in the summer – The Scottish Sun reports that he was close to agreeing a move to Serie A side Torino – it appears that Brendan Rodgers’ opinion of the centre-back has changed recently.
Southampton manager Claude Puel
While injury meant that he begun the campaign on the sidelines, Rodgers has since picked Simunovic six times, most notably against their Old Firm rivals in the semi-final.
And while the Northern Irishman will have been delighted with the defender’s display against Rangers, he may also feel that the more impressive he is over the coming months, the more difficult it will become to prevent him following in Virgil van Dijk’s footsteps by making the move from Celtic to Southampton.
Virgil van Dijk switched Celtic for Southampton
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