Former Manchester United player and current Middlesbrough star, Paddy McNair, has recently been linked with a move to Celtic. The Northern Ireland international has impressed while playing in the Championship in recent times and with the Hoops needing reinforcements, a transfer is not outside the realms of possibility. Chris Wilder’s response to the speculation is very interesting though.
McNair came through the youth ranks at Manchester United and many believed he could make his mark in the first-team. And while he did make several appearances for the senior side, he was never quite able to nail down a spot in the team.
He would move to Sunderland after that and has since then joined Middlesbrough, where he has become a regular in the starting XI. He is also a regular for the Northern Ireland national side.
Capable of playing as a defender as well as a midfielder, it is not hard to see why a move might possibly interest Celtic, who need to add options both at the back and in the middle of the park. But as reported by Belfast Telegraph, Wilder said about the speculation:
"“We don’t have to fight hard to keep hold of him really because he’s our player and he understands where we are trying to get to.“Until I get a phone call, which I haven’t, everybody is here and fighting to get into the team and producing good performances.”"
Wilder responds to McNair to Celtic transfer rumours
It remains to be seen if Celtic do end up making a move for McNair in the future. Judging from Wilder’s comments, it looks like no contact has been made yet.
Celtic are expected to make a splash this January though and have already been linked with several players. It is believed that they are getting close to deals for Daizen Maeda, Yosuke Ideguchi and Reo Hatate.
Interestingly, none of them are centre-backs though. Thus, it will be interesting to see if the club do indeed try to sign McNair from Middlesbrough. For now though, it should only be considered as mere transfer speculation until things start picking up more pace.