One of the more interesting sagas of the many Celtic and Brendan Rodgers were involved in during the January transfer window was the exit of Gustaf Lagerbielke.
The defender was pushed to one side by his manager despite only arriving in the summer, and there was a feeling he could leave in January on a loan.
Lecce were interested, and made a move for him, but Celtic pulled the plug at the last minute, according to reports, because of the fitness levels of Cameron Carter-Vickers, which Lecce technical director Pantaleo Corvino discussed on Monday to Calciomercato.
He said: “We appreciated his desire to come to Lecce. We were interested this summer, but we couldn’t keep up with the exorbitant demands, so he went to Celtic for €4.5m and €800k/year in wages. We had Pongracic and Baschirotto.
“When he didn’t feel comfortable, he and his agent asked us to come to Lecce. It was his request. We, however, had evaluated Pongracic, Baschirotto, Touba and Esposito as suitable at the beginning of January.”
Therefore, if Corvino is to be believed, the whole saga was originally orchestrated by the Celtic player himself and his representatives.
Whether it went as far as it was reported to have gone isn’t stated by the Lecce director, and we will have to wait and see if anyone else at the club comments on this further down the line.
