3 minute read
19/2/2022 | 11:15am
Celtic defender Osaze Urhoghide has dropped an update on his future at Parkhead.
What’s been said?
In a recent interview with Football Scotland, the 21-year-old centre-back revealed that he does not know where he will be playing his football in 2022/23, following his season-long loan move to Belgian side KV Oostende in January transfer window.
However, despite the defender – who only joined Celtic from Sheffield Wednesday last summer – claiming that Ange Postecoglou informed him that he does have a future at Parkhead, the Bhoys agreed to include an option to buy clause in the youngster’s deal with the Belgian Pro League side, meaning KV can sign Urhoghide permanently at the end of the season.
Speaking about his future at Celtic, the 21-year-old said: “The option [to buy] is there, but at the moment I’ll be going back to Celtic and we’ll see what happens in the summer.
“Obviously, I want to do well for Celtic as well, but we’ll see what happens in the summer in terms of that clause, really. I’m just enjoying my football at the moment and focusing on improving. We’ll see what the future holds.”
Regarding Postecoglou’s role in his move away from the club, Urhoghide added: “We had conversations. He wanted me to go out on loan. He still has a future with me there at Celtic. They obviously wanted me to get games and improve. He sees that I have potential as well, but felt it would be best to get games elsewhere to develop, really.”
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Grave mistake
Considering the fact that Celtic sent Jack Hendry out on loan to exactly the same club with exactly the same clause last season, it is not a difficult argument to make that repeating this feat with Urhoghide could easily be something of a grave mistake by Postecoglou.
Indeed, the 26-year-old went on to highly impress in Belgium, with his form for Oostende seeing him immediately secure an £8.6m switch to Club Brugge after KV made the centre-back’s move a permanent one last summer, with Hendry having already gone on to star for his new side in the Champions League in the current campaign.
And, it is clear that the £270k-rated Urhoghide is also a talent who boasts a considerable amount of potential, with Postecoglou himself stating of the youngster upon his arrival at Celtic: “He’s a modern defender. He’s good athletically, he’s mobile, he’s quick and he wants to get on the ball.
“He can play a couple of different positions, and from our perspective, and the way we want to play our football, there are certain things I look for in players irrespective of age, and he’s got some really good attributes to be a top defender .”
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Indeed, this is something the £3.8k-per-week youngster proved in his only Celtic appearance, being deployed at right-back in the Hoops’ 3-2 Europa League victory over Real Betis back in December, with Football Scotland dubbing his performance as a “fantastic debut” and awarding him an eight in their player ratings.
As such, exactly why Celtic have sanctioned a loan deal that includes an option to buy the player who Darren Moore dubbed an “immense” talent is rather unclear, as losing Urhoghide in the same manner as Hendry would undoubtedly be a disaster for Postecoglou and his side.
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