Celtic could sign in-form Burnley captain for £2m fee

Celtic have been linked with an ambitious move for Manchester United's Christian Eriksen recently. The 32-year-old does not seem to have a long-term future at Old Trafford. His current deal is believed to run out next summer. So, he could be available as a free agent next summer or potentially for a bargain transfer fee in January.

Eriksen is not the only midfielder Celtic have been linked with recently though. Another of their rumoured transfer targets seems more realistic.

Josh Brownhill is the captain of Burnley. Like Eriksen, his contract is believed to be running out next summer as well. As a result, this January would be the Championship club's best chance to bring in a transfer fee out of his exit, unless he ends up agreeing an extension.

What kind of a transfer fee could Burnley hope to bring in out of Brownhill's exit in January? Carlton Palmer does reckon it would be much and has even suggested the idea of the club taking a risk and not facilitating a move in the winter in hopes of winning promotion to the Premier League. The pundit told Football League World:

"I don’t know, at 28 years of age, I don’t know how much money they could actually generate for him, with his contract out at the end of the season.

“Maybe £1.5 to 2 million, and maybe Burnley might think ‘you know what, we’ll keep him until the end of the season, if we get promoted we might end up with nearly £200 million’.

“So it’s a gamble worth taking, the player’s got his head down and it’s not impacting the player.

“Really difficult situation for Burnley, but he’s very, very good at this level."

Celtic could sign in-form Burnley captain for £2m fee

There seems to be a decent bit of interest in Brownhill, who is having a pretty good season. The Burnley captain has scored 5 goals already as his side sit 4th in the English Championship table after 15 matches.

One has to wonder though if Celtic really need another midfielder at this point in time. If they were indeed successful in signing Brownhill, who would he replace in the starting XI?

Callum McGregor is as close as it gets to an automatic starter. On his day, Reo Hatate is on a different level as well. And for the third spot, the Hoops have enough options in the form of Arne Engels, Luke McCowan and Paulo Bernardo.