Nashville back out of loan deal for Andrew Gutman

American side Nashville have backed out of a deal to take defender Andrew Gutman on a season-long loan from Celtic, as per the AP.

The left-back, who won the Hermann Trophy as the top male college soccer player in the USA last year, agreed a three-and-a-half year deal with the Scottish champions last week but was set to spend the rest of the season in his homeland.

However, after Gutman previously rejected the offer of a contract from Major League Soccer side Chicago Fire, the MLS themselves weren’t pleased to see Gutman joining Nashville as it could be seen as a work-around of their system by which collegiate players join professional clubs based on geography and a draft.

Nashville are currently playing in the second-tier United Soccer League Championship but will join the MLS in 2020.

Therefore, the American side did not want to upset the powers-that-be in the MLS and as such, they have backed out of the loan for Gutman.

In a statement, Nashville said:

As an expansion member of MLS and in light of the fact that MLS does not support the transaction, Nashville will not be proceeding with the loan.

Gutman will, for the time being at least, be a Celtic player but there will be some uncertainty as to where, if anywhere, he’ll be playing for the remainder of the season.