“He didn’t work hard enough” – The reasons why Celtic ‘target’ was avoided by Ange

Celtic sealed the deal to bring Oh to the club yesterday in a £2.5m deal that tied the 21 year old to a 5 year contract.

Great business and a lovely piece of forward planning many would argue. But is replacing the experience of the outgoing Giakoumakis with a raw youngster really the right move?

Many will simply say ‘In Ange We Trust’ and rightly so, but could reported target Kevin Nisbet have been a better option?

Not a chance. That’s according to former Celt, Peter Grant.

Grant revealed that there were questions surrounding certain aspects of Nesbit that Ange simply would not have entertained.

Speaking on Go Radio via Vital Celtic, Grant said, “The price goes right up if Celtic phone Hibs you know the price is going to right away.

“The English teams, the amount of money they get is phenomenal.

“And it’s value for money the manager is probably looking at it.

“You look at Celtic’s new signing and he’s two and a half million pounds and Hibs are asking for four or five million from Celtic, you can see the reason why that doesn’t happen.

“We said in the summer about young [Lewis] Ferguson about young [Josh] Doig, both of them and Celtic were looking for midfielders or left backs, you’re thinking all day long

“As I say, there must be a reason why. Whether they get priced out of the market.

“It’s not down to the boy’s talent.

“People questioned when he got released with [Partick] Thistle they said he didn’t work hard enough and all this sort of thing.

“At Raith Rovers it was the same, his professionalism wasn’t the greatest, and some of the guys I spoke to, I didn’t know him so it’d be very wrong for me to say, that but that’s what I used to get told with people.”

Typically, Ange signs the ‘man’ not just the player and it seems that Nesbit’s past misdemeanours may have raised a red flag with the Celtic gaffer.