It is not often that someone goes straight from Celtic to Chelsea. In most cases, there is another stop after Parkhead, before players can go to one of the truly elite Premier League clubs. That was the case for both Virgil van Dijk and Victor Wanyama. But at the same time, there have been exceptions as well, like Kieran Tierney’s record breaking move to Arsenal. And there could be another such transfer on the way.
Josip Juranovic is coming off of a stunning World Cup campaign, during which he was arguably the best right-back in the tournament. And to be very honest, with Celtic already signing Alistair Johnston, it almost feels inevitable that the Croatian international will be on his way out of Parkhead in January.
As reported by Sky Sports News, Chelsea are one of a number of clubs looking at Juranovic. Barcelona have been linked with the right-back as well.
Now, a regular starter leaving in the middle of the season is never positive, especially someone as good as Juranovic. But he looks almost certain to depart and in that case, Chelsea’s interest in the player is as good as it gets for Celtic.
Chelsea’s interest in Juranovic is great news for Celtic
Chelsea have been splashing out since their change in ownership. In fact, the club are believed to have agreed a deal with RB Leipzig for Christopher Nkunku, which is worth more than the release clause that was set to become activated in his contract next summer.
At the same time, they badly need a right-back at the moment, with Reece James struggling badly with injuries for quite some time now and expected to miss the next month of action with his latest one.
As a result, it is very possible that Celtic could get a Scottish record transfer fee out of the departure of Juranovic, if Chelsea are actually serious about signing him.
And if Juranovic’s exit is inevitable in January, which it does feel like the case, then the best case scenario for Celtic would be to get the biggest transfer fee possible out of his departure.