€1m difference on van Dijk deal
News of a bid emerged from Holland on Sunday with Celtic keen to get a deal done quickly with Champions League qualifiers coming in the middle of July.
Groningen are resigned to losing the 21-year-old defender but with two years left on his contract are hoping to bring in more than €3m for van Dijk.
So far Celtic haven’t gone beyond €2m but an offer in the region of €2.5m with add-ons could be acceptable to both clubs.
There is interest in van Dijk within Holland but Groningen would be happier selling the player to a non-competitor.
Celtic have money to spend after last season’s Champions League run with van Dijk’s wage demands also falling within the structure that has brought Neil Lennon so much success.
Van Dijk has been linked with a couple of English sides but the strongest interest has come from Brighton but with Gus Poyet’s future in doubt it’s unlikely that a bid will be forthcoming.
Lennon has been searching for a commanding central defensive partnership from the moment he inherited the Celtic job from Tony Mowbray.
A number of partnerships have been tried but other than the £1m paid to sign Efe Ambrose from FC Ashdod little money has been spent on that area of the team with Kelvin Wilson and Daniel Majstorovic signed on free transfers.
Like all of Celtic’s recent transfer business the possibility of selling on van Dijk at a profit increases the attractiveness of signing the defender with the €1m difference between the two clubs unlikely to be a major stumbling block.