Rocco Vata, a young player from Celtic who is out of contract, has had negotiations with Brentford and Nottingham Forest of the Premier League, while Serie A clubs are also interested.
HITC is aware that there is a lot of interest in the highly regarded youth, Rocco Vata, as his Celtic contract is set to expire the following week.
Vata, who joined The Hoops over a decade ago, has admirers in England and Italy.
Nottingham Forest and Brentford have held talks with the Hamilton-born 19-year-old. Both clubs can offer Premier League football, having staved off the threat of relegation in 2023/24.
There is also interest from a Bologna side who qualified for the Champions League for the first time ever before head coach Thiago Motta left for Juventus.
Premier League and Serie A interest in Celtic’s Rocco Vata
Bologna’s captain, Lewis Ferguson, moved to Italy from Aberdeen in 2022. Aaron Hickey, who now plays for the aforementioned Brentford, also had an impressive spell with the Rossoblu
A move to the Stadio Renato Dall ‘Ara may appeal to Vata, then. HITC can confirm that Bologna have been in discussions alongside Como, newly promoted to Serie A.
Second-tier Palermo are keen too.
Celtic, meanwhile, have not given up hope of retaining Vata just yet. He has been offered a long-term deal to remain on the green side of Glasgow, though time is running out with his contract expiring on July 1st.
A stylish, technically-gifted forward, Vata is very highly regarded at Celtic. Despite that, he played only four minutes of Scottish Premiership football last term, though he did open his senior account in the 5-0 hammering of Buckie Thistle in the Scottish Cup.
“Young players have to earn the right (to play),” manager Brendan Rodgers said after that Buckie clash, via BBC Sport. “There’s been a lot of noise around Rocco but any young player has to earn the opportunity. I’ve given many young players opportunities in my career.
“But I like Rocco. He has qualities. He is strong, he’s aggressive, he wants to get goals. When he came on he got his goal and he had other opportunities.
“(Vata’s future) will be up to him. He’s a talent. It depends what the mentality is with him and his representatives. You get some young players whose representatives will tell you if they are not playing in the first-team, starting, they don’t want to stay
You better go then, because you have got to earn the right.”
Brendan Rodgers wants youngster to stay
Rodgers clearly feels that Vata would benefit from sticking around in Scotland, even if it may take another two or three years for him to really establish himself as a regular in the Celtic team.
“He is 18 (now 19),” the former Leicester and Liverpool boss said back in January. “I don’t need players ready at 18 unless they are real, real special talents. But, by 20 or 21, they need to be ready. But you can see he has tools and this can be a really good place for him to develop.”
HITC understands Celtic are also facing a battle hanging onto centre-half Cameron Carter-Vickers. There is interest at Premier League newcomers Ipswich Town. Rodgers’ side are also still in the market for a Joe Hart replacement, with Liverpool’s Coaimhin Kelleher the first pick.
