Celtic transfer rumours about defender appear to be false

Despite recent rumors of Celtic’s interest, it appears that there is no truth to the defender’s transfer links with the Hoops.

Defence has emerged as a position of weakness for Celtic this season. And as a result, they have been naturally linked with a number of defenders in the transfer market. But even then, it had always seemed a bit of a stretch to expect the club to spend a hefty sum of €8 million on Sampdoria’s centre-back Omar Colley.

The 27-year-old Gambian born back has been with Serie A side Sampdoria since June 2018, having made 52 appearances over the past two seasons. Before Italy, he had spent time with Swedish-side Djurgårdens IF and Belgian club Genk.

As recent as last week rumors had persisted that Colley was being pursued by Celtic as well as English clubs West Ham United, Newcastle United, and Southampton. But judging by the comments of his Agent, it looks like the Hoops were never as interested as it had been reported by the media or have decided to end their interest recently.

Speaking with Corriere dello Sport on Tuesday, Colley’s agent seemed to provide more context to these rumors, as translated by 67HailHail:

"“It’s true there has been interest from teams in England, but the player is fine. We are ready to look at proposals because the English Premier League is an important championship, but there must be a big leap otherwise he will stay at Sampdoria. The situation is evolving. I repeat that there has been interest from England, but he still has two years left with Sampdoria. If he were to stay he would be happy and we could maybe even talk to Sampdoria about a possible extension to his contract.”"

While Omar’s agent only spoke to interest from Premier League clubs. While this isn’t a clear cut sign that interest didn’t exist, it likely means that regardless either Colley or Celtic have ended their interest in a transfer.

And this should not come as a shock to Hoops fans with the loan signing of Shane Duffy having being confirmed earlier today for the entirety of this season; it likely does not make sense for Celtic to splash the money required (potentially up to €8 million) for Colley after signing another defender for a potential loan fee up to £2 million.