Stephen Welsh

Here we go jack Hendry number 2. Sell him for £2 mil and they’ll sell him to Brugge for £6 mil

 

As long as we put in a decent sell on clause everyone wins so hope that happens.

 

Another one who clogs up the squad. PUNT.
He’ll probably get injured on the way back to Belgium.

 

He's done what we've asked of him here, go abroad and do well and you get a transfer at the end. I hope he gets a good transfer and carries on getting regular football.

Going to be honest though, this is the sort of loan he should have had a couple of years ago to help him get experience to fight for a place here. No footballer will develop with one or two gams here and there.

 

Ferencvaros are the latest club to have expressed an interest in signing Celtic defender Stephen Welsh.


The Celtic Way understands that the Hungarian champions, who are managed by former Celtic striker Robbie Keane, are monitoring the player's situation.

Belgian side KV Mechelen are also keen to land Welsh on a permanent deal after a successful loan spell in the second half of last season.

The central defender has two years left on his current Celtic contract and is currently due to return to the Scottish champions for pre-season training in July

Welsh helped the Belgians reach the European play-offs after he made the move from Parkhead in January, although they missed out on competing in a UEFA competition next season.

The 25-year-old scored his first goal for Mechelen in his final appearance against FCV Dender last weekend.

The stopper has impressed his potential suitors greatly during his 19 first-team appearances, and he has made no secret of the fact that he enjoyed his loan spell.

Welsh said, "I have loved every minute of it. I think it is the best thing I have done, it is almost like a refresh for six months to go and play football at a top level.”

Keane has just guided Ferencvaros to their 36th Hungarian title, and they will now take part in the Champions League qualifying process.

However, they cannot face Celtic. Like the Scottish champions, they would be seeded if they make it into the play-off round.

 

Good luck to him, always gave his all

 

Should have had him out learning the game at 21. He had the potential then if he got the games, and had the options to play in really strong leagues on loan at the time. He was good enough for covering emergency’s for us though, so we kept him for that. And played him maybe 8/9 games instead of getting him a full season in a different sort of culture of football to learn and come back and maybe have a tilt at being first choice next to CCV.

If not, another year somewhere at 22 he comes back 23 with 2 full seasons in a European League under his belt, maybe 70-80 games week in and out. Instead we allowed him to stagnate until he’s no longer young potential. At 24 you should be emerging into the player you are rather than young and inexperienced. We done him dirty and in the process short term thinking might have stopped us from having a cracking player.