Tyrese Campbell can keep Stoke City in the Championship – but his contract is expiring and Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic are sniffing around.
Stoke City supporters haven’t witnessed many moments of unfiltered, Premier League quality since their time in the top flight came to an end some 18 months ago.
But when Tyrese Campbell soared through the balmy Boxing Day air to produce the kind of mid-air acrobatics that would make Jackie Chan blush, Christmas spirit was not in short supply around the Potteries.
It has been a miserable season for Stoke but a stunning, 3-2 comeback victory over promotion-chasing Sheffield Wednesday represented an all-too rare highpoint. It was Sam Vokes’ 97th minute scrambler which lifted Michael O’Neill’s side out of the bottom three – but that wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for an equaliser of such epic proportions from a 19-year-old academy graduate.
As always with Stoke, however, there is an underlying problem.
Campbell’s future is increasingly uncertain with his contract due to expire at the end of the season. And, according to the Record, Scottish champions Celtic could be about to make him their new Moussa Dembele with a compensation fee of £350,000 all that’s needed to bring the teenager north of the border.
Losing Campbell in January, a matter of days after his stunning late volley inspired the most unexpected of triumphs, doesn’t bare thinking about for a group of fans who have had their fair share of disappointment of late.
But it’s that stunning late volley which explains why Celtic think they have discovered another superstar-in-waiting. And it’s fair to say the last striker they snapped up on the cheap from a Championship club didn’t do too badly in green and white.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
