Celtic linked with an offer for English based defender

Celtic have been linked with putting in an offer for Exeter defender Alfie Pond. 

The 18-year-old defender has still to make his competitive debut for Exeter but with a year left on his contract his career is at a critical stage. 

Signing a new Exeter deal could open up the prospect of League One football but if he stalls on a contract there isn’t much prospect of playing time in the season ahead. 

Celtic were named in the report from Devon Live discussing Pond’s situation, after a friendly against Torquay United Exeter boss Matt Taylor said: 

We have turned down a couple of really low offers from clubs north of the border in relation to his contract and that is not resolving itself anytime soon. We have a fantastic loan opportunity on the table but the player and agent are turning that down at the moment. 

It is beyond me why players don’t want to play football and all of a sudden they sit on the bench and wait for the contract to run out based on advice they get elsewhere. It doesn’t help the club or the player or buying club. We want our young players to play as much but for whatever reason that situation hasn’t materialised into anything positive 

Celtic were recently turned down by Dylan Reid of St Mirren who is in a similar situation to Pond. 

While there will be financial benefits and some glamour attached with a move to Celtic there is no pathway in place for players at the club to graduate into the first team. 

Bosun Lawal and Osaze Urhoghide are currently discovering that reality, at the end of last season Luca Connell and Jonathan Afolabi left the club without a top team appearance in three seasons. 

Lowland League football is a great step for 16 and 17-year-old’s making their first steps in senior football but until a network of loan clubs can be established there will be far more misses than hits from the ‘project market’.

CLICK HERE for Pond’s Transfermarkt profile.