Neil Lennon confirms offer for Aiden McGeady
Celtic Football Club manager Neil Lennon has revealed the Scottish Premier League club has received a bid for their Ireland international Aiden McGeady.
Ahead of the Emirates Cup, where the club will face French Ligue 1 runners-up Olympique Lyonnais and English Premier League side Arsenal, Lennon told a press conference that there was "a big offer on the table" for the 24-year-old winger. McGeady has been the subject of transfer speculation in the press all summer long and was said to be the subject of a £8.3 million bid from Russian Premier League runners-up FC Spartak Moscow – an offer apparently rejected by the Hoops.
'Strong interest'
Despite Celtic claiming the winger had been suffering from thigh and back problems, McGeady has travelled with the squad for the Emirates Cup tournament in London, and was able to train ahead of this weekend’s friendly fixtures. Lennon revealed that he was not sure whether he would have the player’s pace and trickery at his disposal for the start of the SPL season. He said that there were several parties keen on acquiring the player, saying: "There's strong interest, not just from Moscow. We believe there's interest from other clubs as well.”
Lennon also revealed at the press conference that he has not approached McGeady to ask him directly about his future plans, but said he would miss the talents of a player who has been crucial to Celtic’s success in recent seasons should McGeady move on.
'Big player'
The manager said: "I haven't really sat down and said: 'are you away?', or 'do you want to go?' or anything like that because I don't want to put unnecessary pressure on him. He's a big player for us and he has been for a number of seasons. He was very important to me in the run-in to last season. He's a talented player - a very talented player. But every player has his price and sometimes we can't stand in the way of that. If the offer's right for the club and right for the player then it's hard to stop these things going through."
McGeady was left out of the squad for this week’s UEFA Champions League third qualifying round first-leg defeat to Sporting Club de Braga in Portugal. Celtic lost the game 3-0 and would certainly have benefited from the winger’s talents as they struggled to open up the Braga defence. After the game, Lennon claimed that the Scottish-born McGeady had been “complaining of a chronic back injury”. With the boss saying unwilling to risk further injury to the player, McGeady was left out of the side.
However, rumours have circulated that the player’s omission from the squad may be a commercial decision rather than a footballing one. If McGeady had played in the game, he would be cup-tied for the Champions League for the rest of the season and would be unable to play for any other team taking part in the competition. Should a club playing in the tournament be interested in McGeady’s services, he would be a much less attractive proposition if he is unable to play for them in European fixtures.
McGeady has played for the Glasgow club for his entire senior career. He made his first-team debut against Heart of Midlothian in an SPL game in the 2003-04 season and scored after just 17 minutes of action. He has gone on to play 252 games in total for the club, scoring 37 times and providing 83 assists. The winger was part of the squad with won three league titles in-a-row from 2006 to 2008 and has helped his club secure two Scottish Cups and a pair of Scottish League Cups.
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