Celtic are reported to have held talks over signing Ajay Matthews from Middlesbrough.
The 18-year-old striker has a year left on his contract, if he is allowed to run down his deal he could leave next summer for a token Development fee.
Celtic are certainly in the market for a new striker but it is too much to expect that someone who was playing in the u-18 EPL last season could be challenging and providing cover for Kyogo Furuhashi.
Matthews has played in three friendlies for the England u-18 side.
? Excl – Middlesbrough 18-year-old striker Ajay Matthews set to leave this summer.
Some of the clubs that have held discussions and hopeful of signing him include.
Celtic
Rangers
Southampton
Brighton
Brentford
Newcastle
16 goals in 17 starts this season for the youth… pic.twitter.com/czclGhcuCT
— TheSecretScout (@TheSecretScout_) June 24, 2024
The Secret Scout has over 200,000 followers on Twitter.
In recent seasons Celtic have signed Joey Pearson and Jonny Kenny as emerging strikers but there hasn’t been much sign of development towards first team football.
Pearson did make one substitute appearance in December 2021 but failed to build on that while Kenny is on his second loan spell at Shamrock Rovers following a brief stint at Queens Park.
Next season Celtic can offer the combination of playing in the Lowland League and UEFA Youth League to Matthews with Darren O’Dea the newly created Professional Pathway Manager.
Copyright © 2024
Leave a Reply