Neil Lennon admits Celtic go a 'bit lucky' with Jeremie Frimpong as the Hoops get ready for a big windfall from his next transfer.
The Hoops snapped up the full-back from Manchester City for around £300,000 revealed the man who signed him for the Scottish champions as they get set to bank a big lump sum with the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal said to be fighting it out to land the speedy right-back this summer from Bayer Leverkusen. The Bundesliga outfit bought him from Celtic with a sell-on clause inserted in that arrangement.
The 22-year-old is the perfect example of the player trading model at Parkhead of buy low and develop and then sell on for a profit. It's a similar system used for the likes of Fraser Forster, Victor Wanyama and Virgil van Dijk over the years as Lennon opened up on how he first noticed the 'deceptive' youngster. Speaking to www.bettingsites.co.uk Lennon said: “He was brilliant for me. I saw him playing for Man City’s Under-21s at Lennoxtown and I really liked the look of him.
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“It was great to see him in the flesh and it’s so much better than looking at Y Scout and watching videos. He came in and he just blew us all away with his pace and his quality – and his enthusiasm. He’s got a very infectious personality. He’s a lovely boy but he could be quite naughty at times too.
“He took the plunge to go to Germany and he has excelled and I’m really proud of him. He’s deceptive. He’s small but he’s so powerful, good on the ball and quite different from a lot of fullbacks out there. I follow his career and I hope he gets the move that he wants now.
“It will mean more money for Celtic – and that’s the model: find a young player who can enhance the team and then sell him on for a profit.
“We got a bit lucky with him and got him for about £300,000 because he was a wee bit under the radar but it worked out very well for Celtic.
“We had a few of these with Fraser Forster, Victor Wanyama and Virgil van Dyk and I always follow guys like that – but not just the Celtic lads, Hibs boys too like John McGinn and Ryan Porteous who have obviously gone on to do very well.”
