It has been revealed that Middlesbrough are willing to let Jordan Rhodes leave the club during the next transfer window.

Celtic, along with a host of other clubs. have since been linked with a move for the Scottish international.

I just can’t see this story being anymore than an agent trying to generate interest in his client because I just don’t think Celtic need Rhodes at Parkhead.

The striker obviously has a talent in front of goal. But it seems to be a common consensus between Boro boss Aitor Karanka and Scotland gaffer Gordon Strachan that Jordan isn’t good enough to lead the line at the highest level.

The belief is that the twenty-six year old isn’t the fastest, can’t really play up-top by himself and his all round game play seems questionable.

When you look at Brendan Rodgers teams he often likes his forwards to offer more than just goals.

In the Premier League only Hull City have scored less than Middlesborough’s twelve strikes. So it must be pretty galling for Jordan Rhodes that he’s only been on the pitch for 105 minutes but it shows you just how far down the pecking order he is at the Riverside.

While I don’t doubt that Rhodes would get goals in a ‘Hoops’ jersey, scoring actually hasn’t been an issue for Celtic under Rodgers this term.

So far in the Scottish Premiership, Celtic have notched up thirty-nine goals in just thirteen fixtures.

The ‘Hoops’ already have two prolific goalscoring strikers in Moussa Dembele and Leigh Griffiths. Plus they also have Scott Sinclair, who currently leads the leagues scoring charts with nine goals to his name.

Thomas Rogic, Stuart Armstrong and James Forrest have also scored plenty of times so far this term in all competitions.

So where would Rhodes fit into this Celtic side? 

He’d quite possibly be seen as no more than a third choice striker and would that really appeal to him? I seriously doubt it!

Then you look at the fee of £7m-£9m that Boro will want for the forward. I cannot believe that Celtic will want to pay that kind of outlay for a player that they can’t guarantee first team football. Especially when they don’t actually need him at the moment.

It might be different next summer if Rodgers and the board sanction the sale of Dembele for silly money, then of course they will be in the market for a new goalscorer but not in January when the fees are usually higher than in the summer. Plus I doubt that Rhodes will be seen as good enough for the Champions League. 

The Celtic scouting team will no doubt be receiving briefings from Brendan on what/who to look out for but I think it will be with an eye on the summer window rather than this one unless a top long-term target becomes available.

All in all I can’t see the reasoning for Celtic to make a big money move for Rhodes at this time and I doubt they will go for him in January. I’d imagine that the Scottish international will once again find himself in the English Championship next year.

Posted on December 4th, 2016 by scott
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