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Celtic have had a £5m bid for defender Scott McKenna rejected by Aberdeen, according to The Scottish Sun.
What’s the story?
The Hoops are on the hunt for first-team centre-backs this summer after the departure of Filip Benkovic and Dedryck Boyata and it seems they are returning to one of their old transfer targets.
The Scottish Sun reckon the club have made a £5m bid for Dons star McKenna, a year after having a £3.5m offer for the player rejected.
The paper say that Aberdeen are standing firm though, refusing to budge from their £10m valuation of the Scotland international.
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Time for Celtic to look elsewhere
From Aberdeen’s perspective they are more than entitled to receive a fair fee for a player they clearly value as a massive part of their first-team plans. With his contract not expiring until 2023, the Dons are under no pressure to sell one of their regulars, having made 39 appearances for Derek McInnes last season.
For Celtic though, a £5m signing would be expected to be a stand-out in the starting eleven, with the club rarely investing so much money into a single player – their club record transfer fee stands at £9m, and that was to bring in last season’s top scorer Odsonne Edouard.
The problem is that Kristoffer Ajer and Jozo Simunovic are already performing at levels above McKenna, having been a big part of a team that has won nine trophies in three years.
The Croatian has made 93 appearances in that time, while Ajer was used 41 times last season alone. Both have demonstrated they have the mentality and quality to be trophy winners in Scotland, while McKenna has not.
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McKenna is a talent and has been lauded by his manager as the best defender in the country, but Aberdeen finished fourth last season and conceded more goals than the top five teams in the league, so there is little evidence he would be an improvement on what Celtic have.
£5m is just too rich for a back-up player – it’s time for Celtic to look elsewhere and consider alternatives to the Scotland international.