Celtic suffer massive Fraser Forster transfer blow

Celtic have suffered a huge transfer blow in their quest to keep Fraser Forster, currently on loan from Southampton, at Parkhead for the upcoming season.

It is no secret that Celtic will be hoping that they can keep Fraser Forster at the club for the foreseeable future. The Englishman returned to Parkhead last season on loan after spending the last few seasons on the Southampton bench. But since his return, he has been an absolute superstar between the sticks for the Hoops and doesn’t appear to have lost a step over the years.

As a result, Scott Bain did not get much of a sniff at first-team football for most part of the season while Craig Gordon is expected to leave so that he can see out his career somewhere where he’ll get the chance to feature more than he currently does at Celtic. Thus, keeping hold of Fraser Forster will be one of the first things on Neil Lennon’s agenda for the current transfer window.

Unfortunately, it appears as though Southampton have thrown a wrench in those plans by raising their asking price to a point which Celtic cannot afford to pay for Forster. As reported by Football Insider, Paul Robinson said about the situation:

"“Southampton have unfairly price him out of a deal at the moment,” Robinson told Football Insider. “We are talking about a player who has not been anywhere near the first team squad in 12-18 months. He was surplus to requirements.“He has gone to Celtic and rejuvenated his career and now looks like a top class goalkeeper again.”"

It will be really unfair on both Celtic and Fraser Forster if Southampton stand in the way of the move. It is clear that they have no plans for the keeper’s future but are just trying to extract as much money from the Scottish champions as they can. Earlier it was reported that his future would be decided within 48 hours but that has come and gone without any result.

Sadly for them, that is not how the Celtic board works, as they are happy to walk away from a deal if they feel the price is not right. If the reports of the inflated asking price is true then do not expect it to be any different on this occasion. In fact, they already have some replacements lined up for Forster just in case.