Celtic have turned down a ‘significant’ offer for teenage attacking midfielder Rocco Vata this afternoon.
The Daily Record (12:32) reports that Torino had tabled a £500,000 offer for the Irish u19 international and that Celtic has rejected it and have made it clear to the Serie A side that Vata is not for sale.
The youngster is highly rated at Celtic Park and is out of contract at the end of the season. He will be free to sign a pre-contract with clubs in January and despite Torino offering a deal with ‘significant’ add-ons, it clearly wasn’t enough to encourage Celtic to part with one of their prized assets.
Vata, son of former Celtic defender Rudi, has made just four first-team appearances for Celtic. He was heavily involved in Brendan Rodgers’ preseason trips to Portugal and Japan, but despite this, he is said to have become increasingly frustrated at his lack of first-team football.
There is little doubt Celtic will be keen to hold onto one of the hottest prospects to come out of the academy in years.
Vata has shined in the Celtic B team. In 23 appearances he has scored 16 goals but is yet to make a significant breakthrough in the senior squad.
At just 18-years-old, Vata still has a lot of learning to do but his frustrations of not playing regular first-team football does seem to be the driving motivator of him being on the cusp of leaving the club.
Let’s hope Celtic can resolve this as the club has seen far too many top prospects leave due to the lack of progression into the senior team.
In other news, 21-year-old player arrives at Lennoxtown as Celtic prepare transfer announcement