Celtic have been told they will have to offer a long contract to reported goalkeeper target Nick Pope to strike a deal.
The Newcastle United keeper has been linked with a move to Parkhead this summer having fallen down the pecking order at St James' Park. Celtic need a new goalkeeper after Kasper Schmeichel retired in the summer.
Viljami Sinisalo has been filling in for now, and he has done a good job up to this point, but Martin O'Neill may still want to sign a starting keeper before the window shuts in early September. What we do know is that Celtic must sign a keeper of some kind, currently short in that department.
Pope has emerged as an option, likely to leave Newcastle on the cheap, no longer wanted as a number one and now 34 years of age. But wages could be a problem, and Celtic are being told to offer a creative solution.
Celtic told to offer long-term deal
Former Everton chief Keith Wyness, who is still in touch with many Premier League figures, believes Celtic will need to offer Pope a long-term deal to stand a chance of luring him to Parkhead.
"Wages are going to be an issue," he told Football Insider. "What am I looking at, somewhere between £60,000 and £80,000-a-week? That's way beyond Celtic's wage structure," Wyness said.
"They're going to have to offer probably a four-year contract, which, for a goalkeeper, is very possible. So that's what they're going to have to trade off: long-term security for a lower wage.
"That would be a big upgrade for them in terms of getting Nick Pope between the sticks. I think for him, it might be the trade-off in terms of getting some European football, but there may be some bonuses involved in European results that could get his wages up.
"It's going to be a tight one, and one that could go either way. But I think for Celtic, that's all they could offer: a bit more of a long term security."
Four years could be seen as a gamble for Celtic, even if Pope has plenty of tread on the tyres. The goalkeeper would still be on a sizable wage in three years, and there is a risk that Celtic get stuck with a valuable contract they no longer want. But in the short to medium term, Pope would be a very good signing.
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