James McFadden thinks Celtic won’t need to spend £5m on player who is a ‘level above’

Now that the season is almost over, the inevitable talk surrounding Celtic will turn to the transfer window.

With the defence of the Scottish Premiership title on the line and Champions League group-stage football guaranteed, Brendan Rodgers knows he has a bit of work to do to strengthen his team ahead of next season.

With a number of positions requiring the Celtic boss’ attention, one has taken particular prominence with the Hoops fans this season.

Celtic’s Adam Idah ‘project’

Adam Idah came to Celtic in the January window amid the excitement that Celtic were going to splash the cash on players.

Idah has proven since January that he is a class act and despite proving his worth, James McFadden reckons Celtic won’t need to pay the much talked about £5m figure for the Republic of Ireland international.

McFadden said [Open Goal], “Adam Idah comes in in January and everybody, all the Celtic fans, are like it’s a disgrace.

“It’s a disgrace bringing a player in that can’t get a game at Norwich and he’s come in and he’s been effective.

“He’s a level above because he’s got a good bit of experience.”

When asked if he would spend £5m on him, McFadden said, “He’s a project as well I think he’s got development to do.

“But I think that his physicality, I don’t know if you would need to pay that much for him.”

Brendan Rodgers had been talking about adding quality for months beforehand so when third-choice Norwich City striker Idah was announced, you could not blame the fans for feeling let down by the recruitment department.

Photo by Steve Welsh/Getty Images

It was more about the expectation set with previous transfer talk leading to the January window and nothing against the player.

However, Idah has now proven to be a fan favourite at Celtic and you would be hard-pressed to find an argument against making his temporary Glasgow move permanent now.

And if Celtic can get the deal done for less than £5m, that would surely be a no-brainer move for Brendan Rodgers.