Celtic coach surprised by Iheanacho's move to Turkey

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill has said that the Scottish champions thought they had a deal with Kelechi Iheanacho. This was before the Nigerian striker made a surprising move to Turkish club Bursaspor.

Iheanacho completed a free transfer to the Turkish second-tier club last week. This ended months of rumors about his future, even though Celtic tried hard to keep him after his good loan spell last season.

The Super Eagles forward scored nine goals despite injuries and helped Celtic win a domestic double. Celtic wanted to keep him but negotiations eventually fell apart. This allowed Bursaspor to sign the former Leicester City striker on a three-year contract.

After Celtic’s pre-season draw against Middlesbrough, O’Neill said he was shocked by what happened. He thought that Iheanacho had already agreed to stay with the club.

“He’s gone, I thought we had a deal with him at the time but that wasn’t the case and so he’s gone to pastures new,” the 74-year-old said, as reported by the Daily Record.

O’Neill explained that Celtic wanted to keep Iheanacho on terms similar to his last contract after letting the one-year extension option expire. Celtic's offer was said to be around £12,000 per week, with bonuses that could raise it to £17,000. But talks broke down when Iheanacho’s representatives asked for a much better deal, thought to be close to £50,000 per week.

O’Neill also said he would have liked to have Iheanacho for the club’s pre-season training. “He started one game in my two spells against Dundee United but it would have been nice to have him for pre-season. He’s chosen to go elsewhere.

“I don’t know what date. I just tried to answer it the best possible way. I thought we had a deal with him but it didn’t materialize.

“If he’s gone to another club that’s his decision.”

Iheanacho picked Bursaspor after the Turkish club acted quickly to finish negotiations in just 24 hours. They offered him a long-term sporting plan aimed at getting back to the Turkish Super Lig.

Bursaspor is one of Turkey’s oldest clubs. They won the Turkish Super Lig title in 2010 but have had a tough time recently, leading to their relegation to the second tier.