Sampdoria are the latest club to be linked with a move for Rocco Vata.
The teenage forward is out of contract at the end of this season with the main question being which club and country he’ll be moving onto next season.
At the age of 16 he was a regular starter for Celtic’s B side in the 21/22 Lowland League campaig but beyond that the club didn’t seem to have much in the way of a development plan.
After four brief first team appearances last season no progress has been made towards extending his Celtic deal which as resulted in a third season in the sixth tier of Scottish football while Ben Summers and Ben McPherson have been loaned out to Championship sides.
UPDATE: Sampdoria have expressed an interest in Celtic forward Rocco Vata.
Vata’s current deal expires in the summer & Celtic will be due around £343,000 in compensation if he signs a pre-contract next month.
It’s understood, Celtic have made no official contract offer to Vata. https://t.co/zkcsdw35mX pic.twitter.com/oYhm3nw2OE
— Anthony Joseph (@AnthonyRJoseph) December 2, 2023
Vata was part of the Celtic squad in Japan for two pre-season friendlies but the signings of Marco Tilio and Yang Hyun-Jun underlined that the teenager wasn’t viewed as first team material.
The fee quoted by Joseph is based on the development years spent by Celtic, a smaller transfer fee could be agreed in January with add-ons but with his contract expiring in May the player will have a big say over where and when he is on the move.
Why are we paying top dollar for a constant stream of often dud overseas project players, when we have decent ones like Vata on the books already? He’s better than Yang and some of the others that get game time. If he was playing elsewhere, we’d have Lawell Jr salivating over him and wanting to blow £2-3m on him. But because he’s on the books, we never play him and then just let him go for feck all!?!?
I’ve heard all this before with our prospects. And they’ve pretty much gone on to do nothing beyond their early promise.
Trust in the coaching team. They see these guys every day.
Editor: Why can’t the coaching team identify and develop a player through to the first team?
Why did Aaron Hickey decide to move to Hearts at the age of 16 to develop his career?
How did Hickey’s former Celtic team mates developed? (Clue Owen Moffat has been the most successful).
I understand the bhoys frustation but if he cant get a game on the right wing with two of our top wingers injured he just not upto it the now with celtic you are not just a winger your a midfielder and fullback you have occupy the right side Rodgers dosent think he is up to it the now he has put a contract on the table but not signed celtic have lost a few good prospect but none have got first team football well there the liverpool one but you here a lot from scottish media but after on subsution game he has dissapeared would he be a furst team regular at celtic i dont think but money talks they do say loyalty to one yourself man wuth no friends
Don’t do drugs kids