Scottish champions Celtic continued the relentless defence of their league title with a 4-2 victory over Dundee United on Saturday afternoon, with the Old Firm outfit choosing up their 12th win of the season to date to maneuver seven factors clear on the prime of the desk.
It had been removed from plain crusing at Parkhead on the day, nevertheless, with Ange Postecoglou’s facet having been reliant on a dramatic late present from Kyogo Furuhashi and Liel Abada to bail them out of bother, with it briefly wanting as if the Tangerines had achieved sufficient to nick a level late on by means of Dylan Levitt.
The different goalscorer on the day for the guests had been that of former Scotland worldwide, Steven Fletcher, with the towering marksman changing from the penalty spot to take care of his spectacular report in opposition to the Hoops, having now scored five targets in 17 conferences with the Glasgow facet in his profession up to now.
The 35-year-old has confirmed a common thorn within the facet of these at Paradise over time, though the veteran ace may nicely have turned out for the Bhoys if issues had labored out otherwise, with the striker admitting that he had come near becoming a member of the membership prior to now.
The ten-cap menace not too long ago mentioned the repeated hyperlinks concerning a potential transfer to Celtic, stating that:
“Earlier on in my profession once I was linked with Celtic I didn’t have a lot to do with it.
“At that age you simply go away it to brokers and all that, solely discovering issues out once they’re just about achieved.
“So I don’t understand how shut it got here again within the early days, however earlier than I signed for Stoke that was the closest a transfer to Celtic got here. It didn’t occur in the long run and I’ll inform that story at some point!
“But I was linked with Celtic a lot over the years.”
As the 6 foot 1 ahead alluded to, the Hoops have commonly been linked along with his companies for over a decade now, with hypothesis having first begun after Fletcher burst onto the scene at Hibernian, with these at Celtic Park mentioned to have seen a bid rejected on the tail finish of the January window in 2009.
Reports once more emerged in 2015 that then-boss Ronny Deila was eager to prise the Shrewsbury-born striker from Premier League outfit Sunderland, with the participant mentioned to be accessible for a payment of round £2m.
No deal got here to fruition, nevertheless, – probably as a results of the participant’s £50k-per-week wage – with Fletcher ultimately going on to affix Sheffield Wednesday a 12 months later, following a temporary, weird stint on loan at Ligue 1 facet Marseille.
The imposing brute – who additionally plied his commerce for each Burnley and Wolverhampton Wanderers after leaving Easter Road – was once more near a transfer to Celtic Park again in the summertime of 2020 with the 2 events believed to be in talks, albeit with the previous Hibs ace ultimately becoming a member of Stoke City.
Now again in Scottish soccer at Tannadice, the £261k-rated man has made a stable begin to the season with four targets and two assists in 15 video games in all competitions to date, whereas his total profession tally stands at 159 targets at membership degree.
Such a powerful return ought to point out that Fletcher might nicely have been a success for these in Glasgow had a deal ever come off, with it little question a supply of frustration that the membership’s obvious curiosity couldn’t result in an settlement being struck.