CELTIC have identified Steven Fletcher as the player they want as their marquee summer signing in a move that would signal a significant change in the club's transfer policy.
We understand the 28-year-old Scotland and Sunderland striker, who has one year left on his contract with the English Premier League club, would be available for a fee of around £2million, which is well within Celtic's price range.
But while the transfer fee is on the low side, Fletcher's wages, believed to be at least £50,000-a-week, are going to be a not-so insignificant stumbling block.
The former Hibernian star would be prepared take a pay cut to return to Scotland but whether Celtic can put together a deal remains to be seen.
Another potential obstacle was the surprise news yesterday that Dick Advocaat had agreed to stay with Sunderland for one more season. The two admire one another and for Fletcher this could be an ideal way of seeing out the final year of his deal, although it is doubtful whether the Wearside club would allow him to walk away for free at 29 .
Peter Lawwell, the Scottish champions' chief executive, still rues not signing Fletcher in January 2009 when his club and Hibernian failed to come to an agreement. Celtic lost the league on the final day of that season to Rangers.
The player at the time was keen for the deal to go through. The club had another look at him in January but at that time there was next to no chance of a deal being done.
The Scotland international, who is expected to lead the line for his country against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin next week, eventually moved to Burnley for £3m in the summer of 2010, a fee which doubled in a year when Wolverhampton Wanderers bought him after the Lancashire club were relegated.
Martin O'Neill signed him for Sunderland three years ago, for a reported £12m, where he has scored 19 goals in 89 games. Both figures would have been higher had he not broken his ankle while on international duty in March 2014, a setback he really only fully got over in the last half of the season gone past.
Ronny Deila, the Celtic manager, has a strong squad at Parkhead but the need for a top class centre-forward who would not only score goals for fun in the Scottish Premiership but could also handle the Champions League is obvious.
Lawwell has no desire to have a major rethink of the club's transfer philosophy of buying players of a certain age without shelling out millions on them, such as Stefan Johansen and new defender Derdryck Boyata, a policy which has brought them some considerable success.
However, if a deal could be struck with Fletcher and subsequently his goals took the club into the Champions League proper, the deal would easily be paid for with the revenue the European games would bring.
Before Scotland played Ireland at Celtic Park last year, Fletcher admitted that he had come close to signing at Parkhead and that it was something he was agreeable to.
"There has been talk a fair few times but it's never actually happened," he said. "It did get close. When I was frustrated with injuries and not playing, I sometimes thought this is home for me and I want to come back. Of course I do want to come home, it just depends when."
Shrewsbury-born Fletcher on his day is an excellent centre-forward. His time at Sunderland has been detrimentally affected by injury, however, he has saved his best performances for the bigger games such as the Wear-Tyne derby.
Last summer, several clubs in England and abroad made their interest him but his fitness record counted again him, something which is not thought to be an issue now.
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