Celtic: Fresh twist emerges on Osaze Urhoghide deal | OneFootball

A fresh twist has emerged on the deadline day departure of Celtic defender Osaze Urhoghide.

What’s the talk?

According to a report by Football Scotland, the 21-year-old’s temporary contract with Belgian side KV Oostende contains an option to buy clause, something which the Jupiler Pro League club’s president, Gauthier Ganaye, confirmed in comments made regarding the centre-back’s January switch.

Ganaye said: “We absolutely wanted to negotiate a purchase option because we firmly believe in his talent. We try to avoid renting without a purchase option in our philosophy and I am therefore happy with the deal we have obtained. Of course, comparisons will now be made with Jack Hendry, but Osaze is a lot younger than Jack and still has a lot of progress margin.

However, Football Scotland finish their report by suggesting that Ange Postecoglou is believed to be keen to keep Urhoghide at Parkhead for the long-term, something that would now appear to be problematic following the latest update on the defender’s move to Belgium.

Should Celtic have included a buy option in Urhoghide's loan deal?

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Grave mistake

While it is true that, since his £207k move to Glasgow from Sheffield Wednesday last summer, Urhoghide has failed to stake a claim as a regular within Postecoglou’s matchday squads, the 21-year-old nevertheless proved during his single appearance for the Bhoys that he is more than capable of doing a job in the Greek-Australian manager’s side.

Indeed, the £270k-rated centre-back – who is also comfortable operating on the right or left of a back four – could not have done much more on his Celtic debut to impress Postecoglou, making five tackles, three clearances, one interception and winning nine duels in the Hoops’ impressive 3-2 Europa League win against Real Betis.

These returns saw the £3.8k-per-week Englishman earn a very respectable SofaScore match rating of 6.9 against an opponent who currently sit third in the LaLiga standings – while Football Scotland awarded the youngster an eight in their own player ratings for the match, as well as dubbing his display a “fantastic” performance.

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As such, considering Urhoghide’s undoubted potential, exactly why Celtic agreed to include an option to buy in the 21-year-old’s loan contract with Oostende is something only the club will know the answer to – but it certainly appears as if the Bhoys have not learnt their lesson from the previous loan and subsequent sale of Jack Hendry to the same club.