Is Boruc leaving Celtic?

There are two levels of training-camp mentality in Scotland. First, there’s no doubt that the bottom half of the Scottish Premier League are largely farm clubs for Rangers and Celtic. Once a player has a few great seasons for Motherwell or St. Mirren, they’re snapped up by the Old Firm. But, just as often, when a footballer shows his greatness for Celtic and Rangers themselves, they are lost to a better league. It looks like this might be the case with one of the two best keepers in Scotland, Artur Boruc of Celtic. It’s no secret that he and Craig Gordon both outclass the other SPL keepers by a fair bit, but unlike Gordon, he’s not Scottish, and the Polish international has a lot less to keep him in Glasgow. After being linked with Arsenal and even Milan, the rumor mill has now shifted to Aston Villa. According to tribalfootball.com, and a number of other rumor-mongers, Villa boss Martin O’Neill may be thinking of a price of about 8 million pounds for Boruc. This is a very complicated deal, however, involving some of the top teams in Europe. Arsenal may be looking to deal out Jens Lehmann to Bayern Munich, opening the door for Boruc to move into a Big Four premiership side, but O’Neill’s history with Celtic (he was manager from 2000-2005) has led him to grab a number of their players in the past few years for Villa, and he’ll likely make a strong play for Boruc, knowing that a world-class keeper would certainly move them up the EPL standings. So (and I’ve been waiting all day to say this), it looks as if both Lehmann and Villa keeper Thomas Sorensen are being spalmatoed in order to keep the option of Boruc open. If a bidding war erupts between Villa and Arsenal, chances are good that Celtic won’t be able to keep up.

Category: Scottish Premier League

Tags: Arsenal, Artur Boruc, Aston Villa, Celtic, Jens Lehmann, Scottish Premier League, Spalmato, SPL, Thomas Sorensen, Transfer rumors

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