Celtic's mega transfer pursuit set to end if cogs in wheel come to fruition
Maloney explains where depth on right wing could come from
Celtic are likely to cool their interest in Fares Ghedjemis should the complete the signing of fellow winger Haissem Hassan.
The Parkhead outfit have made a renewed offer, reported to be in the region of £9 million, to Oviedo for Hassan, who starred at the World Cup for Egypt. Sources in Spain expect the LaLiga 2 side to accept the bid.
Hassan was left out of Oviedo’s squad for Saturday’s friendly with Le Havre, fuelling speculation that a move to Glasgow is imminent.
Celtic have been searching for a right winger all summer and have also made bids to Frosinone for Algerian internationalist Ghedjemis, who also went to the World Cup. However, the recently-promoted Serie A outfit are keen to keep their prized forward unless a bid of at least £11m comes in.
Rangers have also entered the race to sign Ghedjemis but if Celtic manage to land Hassan, assistant coach Shaun Maloney - who is standing in for manager Martin O’Neill after he had a “small procedure” - has intimated that the squad may have enough options on the right, with Yang Hyun-jun, James Forrest and Sebastian Tounekti also in the building.
"On that right side, I think if we get one in with a certain profile and we keep everyone, I think that might be enough,” said Maloney. “But I think we have to wait and see.
“I think the job that Yang did, we've still got some ... Tounekti can play off the right, we've got young [Rory] McArdle coming through, we've got James Forrest. I think what we want is we want to feel like the nine position where it's like, this is really difficult to see who's starting. But, yeah, let's cross that bridge, hopefully, when we get some work done.”
Asked directly if the pursuit of Ghedjemis would be off if Hassan is bought, Maloney replied: “Yeah, I'm not sure how close it is. I know there's a lot of things in the media, but I'm not sure how close either is. And I did mean what I said. Generally, this has always been Martin [O’Neill] and Michael [Nicholson, chief executive]. If I have to maybe give you the information, two or three days' time, because Martin isn't here, then fine.
“I might get briefed a bit more, but at the moment, it'll be Martin and Michael, let you know.”
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