Celtic could miss out on January deal due to annoying midfielder's camp
Doubt has been cast over Celtic's ability to land summer midfield target Gvidas Gineitis in the winter transfer window. The Hoops tried to sign the Torino midfielder in the summer and made two offers, but they never reached the Italian club's valuation.
Celtic showed initial interest and then made a very late attempt to sign Gineitis, but they did not follow through. It seemed as though the Bhoys set themselves a real budget after missing out on Champions League qualification, and it's likely they would have met Torino's asking price had they not blown a four-goal lead and crashed out of the Champions League.
The question now is whether Celtic go back in for Gineitis during the January transfer window, given they clearly need a holding midfielder after failing to replace Arne Engels in the summer.
There have been suggestions Torino could sell Gineitis for around €8million amid some disappointment over his performances this season, although the midfielder himself has admitted it has been a touch stretch of form, and the Serie A club have seen what the Lithuanian international can do previously.
Perhaps surprisingly, there are now claims from Tuttomercatoweb that a contract renewal could be on the table for Gineitis, whose current deal expires in 2029. A contract renewal will take a possible Celtic deal off the table, of course.
But it remains in question whether Celtic will even be able to do a deal. That's because the report claim the player's representatives feel as though the Hoops wasted their time with half-baked attempts to sign the midfielder in the summer.
That could make a future deal difficult to strike, and it will be interesting to see if Celtic do make another move for Gineitis.
The contract situation is likely to be the most significant detail on that front, and it's claimed there has already been some preliminary talks between the midfielder's camp and Torino.
Celtic do very much still need to be a holding midfielder, but it certainly doesn't have to be Gineitis, and one would hope they have more than one option on the table going into the winter window.
