Rocco Vata is reported to be in advanced talks to join Watford with his Celtic contract expiring today.
The teenage forward has been the subject of repeated speculation over the last year with clubs from Italy linked with a move in January.
Vata has come through the Celtic Academy but only played less than 10 minutes of SPFL Premiership football last season although he did score a Scottish Cup goal against Buckie Thistle.
Initially he was used as a pacey right winger in the Celtic B team playing in the Lowland League but over the last 18 months he has played as a striker.
UPDATE: Watford are in advanced talks with Celtic forward Rocco Vata.
It’s understood the 19yo has visited the facilities & met with club reps.
Watford are offering Vata a four-year deal.
Celtic would be due £237,000 in training compensation if he joins Watford. https://t.co/SIHPo3mftd pic.twitter.com/HYTtVi7duG
— Anthony Joseph (@AnthonyRJoseph) June 30, 2024
Last summer would have been the ideal time to get Vata more involved with the first team and onto a new contract but the signings of Marco Tilio, Yang Hyun-jun and Luis Palma pushed him further back down the pecking order.
Last week Sead Haksabanovic left Celtic for Malmo but the first team squad remains at over 30 players with hard work required to get that down to a manageable level.
CLICK HERE for Vata’s Transfermarkt profile.
Goodbye Rocco. Just another one to add to the list of those who think the grass is greener away from Paradise . He’ll regret it just like the vast majority who have gone before him. Just wish the young lad would smile now and then. Very dour .
Editor: How long do you think it will be before the St Ninians/Lowland League route produces a first team player? None since KT in 2015.
How do you think these young players feel watching lawwell sign all these projects, no wonder they are leaving, that fat clown has fkd celtic up by “officially returning ” , he has got to go now , his obsession with keeping sevco relevant is seriously damaging celtic and apparently the near miss with the last league win has not changed his thinking, Rodgers will walk also , couldn’t blame him , he got enough of this grief from the press all of last season and still looks like he’ll have to work under this fools control again with the meddling to further continue.
Well said Jim. Lawell is a nonentity yet he still controls everything that goes on at Celtic.
He is like one of these diseases you can’t get rid off.
Rocco is probably the most gifted player in our Lowland League squad yet has barely had a sniff of the First Team so it’s hardly a surprise that he wants to leave and follow in the footsteps of all the other young players that have left.
Celtic do not provide a route into the first team squad.
Exactly Anthony. As I’ve said on here and elsewhere before, the development squad is a waste of money, time and effort and should be disbanded. Identify talent, sign those with big potential and farm them out above Lowland League level, probably in England too in EFL 1 or 2. They’d come on leaps and bounds or find it above them and both ways we benefit and so does football in general. Farming out talent until ‘ready’ will benefit us with 1st team ready players, if development is carefully managed, and potentially create an income stream too, not that that is my main concern. Think of where Matt O’Reilly came from!
HH
M L buys speculative projects whose CVs looked good on paper, while B team cabochons leave the Club. Darren O’Dea and Stephen McManus must have mixed feelings. Overall, they should be pleased with themselves. There is nothing wrong with the progress of the B players.