Celtic remain frontrunners to sign Shamrock Rovers defender Liam Scales but as the Irish side prepare for their Europa League Conference tie with the Albanian side Teuta Dorres, the Rovers boss Stephen Bradley has revealed that there are now other clubs in the running to sign his top star, including clubs from the Premier League.
The Celtic Star broke the story of Celtic’s bid being submitted for the player who can play across several position including wing-back, earlier this week. That now appears to have been confirmed by the Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley.
“There has been bids put down. We’ve had a number of managers ring myself and Stephen regarding Liam and watched him on a weekly basis,” the Shamrock Rovers manager said. When asked about Premier League interest Bradley confirmed this alongside the Celtic bid, believed to be around €600,000. “That has been there as well as Celtic and others. There is a lot of interest.”
It looks like Rovers are determined to hold onto Scales for the time being as they strive to qualify for the Conference League group stages, which could be worth up to €3m for the Irish side. To achieve that the’ll have to beat the Albanians then win a subsequent play-off tie.
That might not suit Celtic, or indeed the Premier League clubs, believed to be Southampton and Norwich City, who have enquired about the player but haven’t as yet submitted a bid. “You have to weigh up every option and avenue and work our what’s best for the club first of all,” Bradley added, as reported by Independent.ie.
“It’s very important that you’re open and honest with the player and his representatives and make the best decision for all. But you weigh up everything – how important these games are, the league in the next month or two. Like we have done in the past with so many.
Shamrock Rovers Liam Scales with Prince Mutswungum of Waterford Photo: INPHO/Ryan Byrne
“To be fair, Liam has been brilliant – even last year signing a new deal when there was interest there. We’ve never had any issue and he’s really calm and takes things in his stride and thinks about things. He makes clear decisions and has good people around him. With Liam, it’s pretty straightforward and there’s no managing and he’s pretty level headed and has had a good grounding.
“I think the credit has to go to the club. We’ve slowly but surely built that up in terms of players, where they’ve gone and the club have trusted us in terms of contract that was put on the table. That doesn’t say that this is the norm going forward. But the board have trusted our judgement in signing players on longer deals and then it means you can take a stance when teams come in. I fully expect Liam to be with us next week,” he added. After that? Looks like that’s when the transfer is going to happen, with Celtic still the likely destination for the player.
More Stories / LatestWatch Joe Hart’s first Celtic Fan Media Conference below…What Fraser Forster told Joe Hart about playing for Celtic…
More must-reads: