It is not often that Chelsea are linked with moves for Celtic stars these days but one player that the Blues are rumoured to have their eyes on right now is Josip Juranovic. The Premier League giants are in need of a right-back, with Reece James struggling to remain fit for any considerable length of time over the past few seasons. And with the Croatian’s impressive displays at the World Cup, it is not hard to understand why he might have caught their attention.
Rumours have suggested that Chelsea’s interest in Juranovic is still at an internal stage though and they are yet to make a move to sign him from Celtic. It remains to be seen if that changes in the future.
For the the time being, Juranovic remains a Celtic player and could have a role to play in the upcoming Glasgow Derby against the Rangers at Ibrox.
As reported by the Football Scotland, when questioned if there was anything to the rumours linking Juranovic to Chelsea, Postecoglou said:
"“I can say that I’ve heard nothing.“Speculation is what it is but what I know is that the club are in a really good space going into January.“We’ve already strengthened and hopefully we will strengthen even further.“I’ve not doubt that by the end of January we will have a stronger set of players.”"
Celtic boss gives direct response to rumours linking Juranovic with Chelsea
It is true that Celtic have already strengthened their squad by bringing in Alistair Johnston and Yuki Kobayashi, and a move for Tomoki Iwata is believed to be close to completion as well. On the other hand, the club continue to be linked with some very exciting names like Casper Tengstedt, Cho Gue-sung and several others.
Let’s see how things transpire over the coming weeks and months. The fact that the club brought in another right-back in Johnston does suggest that they are prepared in the scenario that Juranovic leaves.
There does seem to be the air of inevitability about the move, following Juranovic’s stunning World Cup displays as Croatia finished third in the competition.
The club signed Juranovic from Legia Warsaw for a transfer fee around £2.5 million but if he was to leave, the Hoops should try to get a Scottish record fee.