Celtic are reported to be about to lose another teenage prospect to Bayern Munich.
During the summer, despite being included in the first team trip to Austria and Switzerland, Liam Morrison signed for the Bundesliga champions with Barry Hepburn reported to be following the same path.
The 16-year-old forward has refused to sign a professional contract with Celtic with The Sun reporting that he is bound for the Bundesliga:
BAYERN MUNICH are preparing to snatch another Celtic kid – with Barry Hepburn set to head for Germany. SunSport understands the Bundesliga giants are confident of completing a deal which would see them capture winger Hepburn this summer.
The 16-year-old still had a year to run on his youth registration but the Hoops had offered him his first professional contract to stay on. It’s believed the Scotland Under-17s starlet has now left them disappointed after rejecting it to head overseas instead. That additional year on his youth deal would have given the Parkhead club a greater say had he moved within Scotland.
But that level of contract isn’t recognised by UEFA – meaning a cross-border move at Hepburn’s age has weakened their position.
It seems that clubs are scouting at a younger and younger age with schoolboy prospects known across the continent rather than only within Scotland and England.
Although Celtic lost out on Morrison they did similar deals to bring Jeremy Frimpong, Lee O’Connor, Jonathan Afolabi and Luca Connell to the SPFL champions.
Deals were negotiated with Manchester City and Manchester United for Frimpong and O’Connor with the former City kid quickly making his mark on the Celtic first team.
The big worry for Celtic will be that other players are likely to show an interest in following Morrison and Hepburn abroad with clubs well aware of contracts- with players holding off signing professional contracts to keep their options open to move outside of Scotland.