Derek Rae has provided some detail on the collapse of Schalke’s attempt to sign Chris Jullien on loan from Celtic.
With a year left to run on his Celtic contract it was always going to be a delicate issue to complete with the defender managing just 15 minutes of competitive football in the last 17 months.
Yesterday it seemed just a matter of time before the transfer was completed but in mid-morning Thursday news emerged that the move was off.
Rae tweeted:
NEW: Christopher Jullien has flown back to Glasgow. The proposed deal between Schalke & Celtic appears to have fallen through. As mentioned yesterday, extensive athletic & medical checks & there still were outstanding conversations to be had.
He added:
It was these final conversations that proved the death knell for the deal. The clubs had agreed but Schalke & the player ultimately couldn’t come together on terms.
Rae started his career as a commentator for BBC Scotland before moving to the USA, in recent years he has worked for BT Sport and ESPN covering the Bundesliga and Scottish football.
In August 2016 Celtic had a similar scenario when Jozo Simunovic travelled to Torino to complete a transfer, ironically at the same time as Joe Hart was moving to the Italian side on loan from Manchester City. Following the medical Torino wanted to switch the deal from a permanent move to a loan deal.
Whatever shows up in a medical appears to have impacted on the terms offered to Jullien, both the player and Celtic will be keen to come up with an alternative move.
This may be less about physical condition than about wages.