LET'S not kid ourselves here. If Tottenham Hotspur really has quoted Celtic a fee of £10 million to sign USA internationalist Cameron Carter-Vickers then the deal will be a total non-starter.
Celtic pulled off two shrewd pieces of transfer business in the summer when they recruited CCV from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Portuguese star Jota from Benfica.
A lot has been made of the "option-to-buy" clause for Jota with Celtic reputedly having the first refusal on signing the wide man for a fee in the region of £6.5 million.
In the case of CCV, things up until this point were not so cut and dried.
READ MORE: Celtic hit with shock as Tottenham reveal Cameron Carter-Vickers permanent transfer fee
A potential permanent deal was mooted with the Amercican being available for a transfer fee of around £5 million or £6 million. So far, so good.
Carter-Vickers, 23, has been an ever-present for Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou since he pitched up in Glasgow's East End. He has made 18 appearances including five in the Europa League.
To date, Celtic whilst Carter-Vickers has been in the team have conceded 7 goals in the Premiership, 0 in the League Cup and 13 in the Europa League.
His stats are impressive as the radar below will attest, with this Stats Bomb numbers coming in in the top 90 percent across most areas of play.
The stopper also has two goals to his credit this season both coming in Premiership victories against Ross County and Hibernian.
So how can a player who was deemed surplus to requirements in London all of a sudden have doubled in value?
Ange Postecoglou, the club board, and the faithful will have been left rubbing their eyes in disbelief at this latest revelation.
A £5-6 million player is well within a club like Celtic's budget and asking price.
£10 million?
You can almost picture Ange saying the words: "Ten million? That's a different ball game and sport altogether mate."
If it truly is the case that Tottenham wants such a fee then Carter-Vickers would become the most expensive signing in Celtic's history if a deal were to be concluded. More expensive than Odsonne Edouard.
Just let that sink in for a minute.
Bearing in mind, Carter-Vickers is also a player who is currently enjoying the seventh loan spell of his career in his six years at Spurs - Sheffield United, Ipswich, Swansea, Stoke, Luton, Bournemouth and now Celtic have all adorned his CCV. Whilst there is no denying that the big lad has solidified Celtic's defence, it is incredible to think that Celtic would shell out anywhere near the region of £10 million to secure his services come May.
Only last week the player who has been capped eight times by the USA said he would be "open" to discussing a permanent switch north of the border.
Carter Vickers said: "It’s something that I’m open to but I haven’t given it much thought at this stage, to be fair.
“For me at the moment, I’m here at Celtic, I’m a Celtic player, so my focus is more on impressing the manager here and trying to get results for Celtic.”
READ MORE: Why Michael Stewart's brutal Celtic assessment of Starfelt and Carter-Vickers was wrong... and right
Some serious thought will need to be given to the issue if Celtic and Spurs are to get around the negotiating table in the summer.
Unless the Premiership side drops their demands then the player will leave Celtic and once again return to the English capital with his future very much up in the air.
Spurs may well hail, hail from North London.
However, the Cockneys are having a right "bubble" with their £10 million evaluation of Carter-Vickers.
Despite having had a season-long "butchers" at Carter-Vickers, Celtic will not be tempted to deal at that price.
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