The £116 million insanity of Elliot Anderson’s price tag opens the door for Arne Engels to move from Celtic to Nottingham Forest

The money in the EPL really is verging on insanity at this point.

I don’t doubt that Elliot Anderson is a quality footballer, but is he really worth £116 million?

Well, to put that into perspective, look at it this way.

Back in 1993, Roy Keane cost Manchester United £3.75 million, a then English record, when they purchased him from relegated Nottingham Forest all those years ago.

Allowing for inflation, Roy Keane’s price tag back then would equate to £9.9 million in today’s money.

Now imagine getting a player of Roy Keane’s quality in this day and age for just £9.9 million?

This epitomises the insanity of player costs in the EPL today.

Elliot Anderson is no Roy Keane, that’s for sure.

Yet in the crazy English Premier League of today, he is considered to be worth £116 million?

As a result of this, there is no doubt that Celtic’s absent meddling golfer is rubbing his hands together with glee.

Desmond will be fully aware that Nottingham forest are now flush with cash.

He’ll also know that they’ll be looking for a rapid fire replacement for Elliot Anderson.

Snoozing Silent Mike will be unceremoniously kicked out of his summer slumber.

The absent meddling golfer will name his price, and he’ll tell Silent Mike not to budge on it.

Because that’s how we roll at Celtic.

Marcelo Saracchi is available for a cut-price £1.3 million?

Nah, f*** that.

Go for the cheaper option and get him on on loan again.

But when it comes to clubs approaching us for our top stars?

F*** them too.

They’ll pay what we’re asking, and what’s more they’ll bloody like it.

Make no mistake, Celtic will land a record fee for Arne Engels.

And when we do?

All of the board apologists out there will hail it as a ‘genius board’, doing ‘genius’ business once again.

Mind you, it’ll be the same board apologists who laughed uproariously and ridiculed Joe McHugh, and James Forrest and I, when we said time and time again that Arne Engels would command a record transfer fee for Celtic.

Because that’s how they roll.

We’re a bunch of twats who know nothing about football when we say Arne Engels will be worth a fortune, and he’ll earn Celtic a record fee.

But when the board recognises he’s major asset and sells him for megabucks, they’re geniuses.

You know what the ironic thing in all of this is, though?

Forest will re-invest the money they’ve made out of the sale of Elliot Anderson in strengthening their football squad.

They’ll probably spend a big chunk of it on Arne Engels too.

But when Celtic receive that chunk of money, what will they do?

They’ll just bank it.

Martin O’Neill will be lucky if he sees a third of it.

You can rest assured Engels will go.

Not even two years into his time at the club.

You would understand if the money we make from him is re-invested, but it won’t be.

Engels will represent a good piece of business.

To the board.

Whether Martin O’Neill gets a sniff of the profits remains to be seen.

I won’t hold my breath.

You know the cardinal rule?

Always finish the transfer window with a surplus.

That ain’t gonna change any time soon.

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