Club director claims Celtic made bid for 13-goal striker

One rival club director has claimed that Celtic had made a bid for a 13-goal striker despite the Hoops claiming otherwise.

While it may be of little consequence now, one rival club director remains firm on the fact that Celtic did in fact make a bid on one of their top players despite Hoops manager Neil Lennon claiming the club had not made a bid on the said player in question.

CFR Cluj director Bogdan Mara has recently reaffirmed that Celtic did in fact make a bid on Billel Ormani. As many Hoops supporters will remember it was Ormani’s goal that played a large part in knocking Celtic out of the UEFA Champions League Playoff Round at home.

Ormani had been linked to the club last summer, but Neil Lennon told RecordSport that Ormani was in fact not an option to ‘his knowledge’. And that seemed to shut the case on the rumours once and for all. Therefore the club moved on and decided to address the striker position in the winter transfer window.

But now, Cluj’s Mara has come back out once again stating that Celtic did in fact not just have interest but actually but a bid in on the striker. It appears Cluj just had little interest in moving their star player. Here is what the Cluj director had to say when he spoke with The Sun:

"“We had discussions with several clubs and we had offers. Celtic made an offer and so did a club in England.“But when the offers came in, we needed him for European football and we still need him.“I think our asking price of £3million is a fair price and several clubs remain interested.“I think once football restarts, those clubs who were interested will return to us.“He is an excellent player who has enjoyed an extraordinary season both at home and in Europe.“But we’ll look at the offers we receive and decide what to do once we return.”"

All of this begs the question of whether or not the Hoops will once again be interested in the Romanian Player of the Year come this summer. Ormani could help fill any holes and add an extra layer of depth if Odsonne Edouard decides to move on in the near future.