Celtic table late bid for Stokes
Anthony Stokes
Stokes was a prolific goalscorer at Falkirk
Celtic have tabled a late bid to sign 18-year-old striker Anthony Stokes from Arsenal, BBC Scotland understands.
Charlton Athletic and Sunderland were thought to have agreed a fee with the London club for the young Irishman.
However, the Glasgow club are believed to have matched the fee and the youngster now has a decision to make about his future.
Stokes netted 14 SPL goals in 16 appearances with Falkirk since moving on-loan from Arsenal in September.
He spent the first half of the season at Falkirk, but his loan spell ended at Christmas before returning to the Gunners in the January transfer window.
Anybody else find it outrageous that Stokes is going to move for 3m approx? I’d put money on Stokes turning out to be a better player than Walcott and at the moment he definitely is. Can’t imagine he’ll pick Sunderland or Charlton over Celtic.
Stokes is at Celtic as we speak so looks good for Celtic.
Price seems fair to me. Some Celtic fans are saying we should pay 1m max for him because he has only been successful for 6 months but he has a cracking record as a youth and reserve team player at Arsenal so I’m happy to pay that bit more.
I really like the look of him so far and I’d be over the moon if he signed for us.
Breakingnews.ie are reporting that Stokes is signing for Celtic at 5pm but Scottish lads on the Hudddleboard are saying that was the original plan but that he’s changed his mind to opt for Charlton instead.
“I’m not disappointed he’s chosen Charlton… players here want to play in front of 60,000, play in the champions league… if they don’t, they can play elsewhere”
Without wanting to sound too bitter about the whole thing Strachan has it right. It’s a very poor decision from Stokes I think.
Saturday evening Stokes changed his mind (again!) and is now joining Sunderland today it seems. His attitude to this has disappointed me to be honest. He’s gone for a higher wage deal and that’s his call but I don’t think it’s particularly ambitious.
I think Strachan and Celtic have done fine on this. They’re not going to be held to ransom by an 18 year-old with great potential. One of the most impressive parts of Strachan’s tenure at Celtic has been his reduction of the wage bill. Vennegoor of Hesselink is one half what Chris Sutton is on. Naka is on half what Petrov was on. Thompson is hopefully leaving in this transfer window. He has built a very good squad of guys within a set wage structure (where the earnings are performance related) and it would have been foolish to break that for Stokes.
Disappointed he didn’t sign, and can’t help feeling a bit of resentment to the guy at this stage, but if you’re motivated more by the cash at Sunderland than the Champions League at Celtic then good riddance.
Is it a cash based decision or is he afraid he won’t play every week?
He’s very outapoken for a kid. He’s only 18 and he has a weekly column in The Star. Over Christmas he was saying he would be loathe to go back to Arsenal and stay on the bench so I wonder did he fear being a squad player at Celtic?
I think if he had played like he did at Falkirk then he would have definitely got a game up front with Jan. Pressley also said Charlton’s offer was better financially but he decided to join Celtic for sporting reasons so I can’t help but conclude he’s chased the cash.
Despite it becoming a bit of a saga over the weekend there’s no reports of Celtic coming back in again so perhaps Strachan was disappointed by his attitude too. I trust the Gordfather completely so Anthony Stokes…go fook yourself.
I was just reading a load of debate on various Celtic boards about this. As he seems to be motivated by money certain folk think Celtic should have offered him around 15k a week or whatever he got offered elsewhere.
However, Celtic under Peter Lawwell have got themselves back on an even keel financially and what happens if you offer an 18 year-old kid who’s played 18 senior games 15k a week? You break your wage structure that’s what. Then McGeady and Maloney will be after 30k. What would Naka be after then? 50k?
All our deals are performance based so if he had have come to Celtic and scored then the financial rewards would have followed. He could have been an idol to thousands at one of the biggest supported clubs in the world yet he’s just signed for a provincial English side who play in a half empty stadium in a rubbish league.
17K a week is what he’s getting at Sunderland apparantly. They matched what Charlton had offered and the fact that he idolises Roy Keane swung it in Sunderland’s favour. It’s a better move than Charlton as I reckon Sunderland will be challenging for promotion this time next year and Charlon are only going one way. Give him a season or 2 in the championship under Keane’s guidance and hopefully he’ll trun into a great player.
Ambition or no ambition 17K a week for a kid of 18 is nearly impossible to turn down.
The only thing I can think of is that he scores bucket loads for Sunderland and then moves on to one of the top 6 in England (ManU, back to Arsenal, Pool, Chelsea, Spurs, AN Other) in a couple of years. He says Keano’s ambition swung it for him and if Keane has any kind of success to match his ambition then he won’t still be at Sundireland in 5 years and I hope for Stokes’ sake that he’s not either. Despite what Niall Quinn, Charlie Chawke and a crowd of vinters would have you believe the best a team like Sundireland can hope for is to be one of the middle ranking teams in the EPL (Bolton, Villa etc). How many Irish qualified players are playing in the Champions League? I think it’s a shame he’s turned down that opportunity though I am Celtic biased.
West Brom manager Tony Mowbray has tabled a bid of 4.5m for Hibernian’s Scott Brown and Kevin Thomson, BBC Scotland understands.
This is the first time that Mowbray, who left Hibernian in November, has moved for players from his old club. Although the pair have attracted interest from both sides of the Old Firm, BBC Scotland understands both players would be keen on the move.
The Hibs board have stated they are considering the bid.
On Monday Hibs manager John Collins stated that the club would not sell the players in the current transfer window, but it looks like West Brom’s offer will test that resolve.
Thomson and Brown have been involved in an ongoing dispute with the club as they both seek to renegotiate their contracts.
Thomson, 23, is contracted to Hibs until 2010, while 21-year-old Brown signed a deal to keep him at Easter Road until 2009.