REPORT: Celtic interested in Spurs attacking midfielder Alfie Devine

Alfie Devine was purchased by Tottenham Hotspur in 2020 from Wigan Athletic’s academy, and he showed a lot of promise as an academy kid and young professional footballer. But over the past few years it’s become increasingly clearer that Devine was unlikely to crack Spurs’ first team. That’s even more clear now that Tottenham have purchased two central midfielders and are committing to a concerted push to return to European placements.

That makes Devine ripe for a potential sale, and that’s the latest rumor we have. The Glasgow Times is reporting that Celtic are interested in Devine, who is apparently valued at £6m by Spurs.

After a successful loan at Preston last season, Devine had a purchase option in his loan contract. Preston, however, apparently let the deadline for exercising that option expire, and now Celtic are showing interest. The article makes it seem as though £6m would be a potential hardship for Celtic, but Martin O’Neill is said to be a fan of Devine, and Spurs are likely to let him leave permanently if a decent offer comes in.

Again, this is the point where I tell people that not every promising academy talent will end up playing for Tottenham’s first team. In fact, that’s an incredible exception to the rule — almost all of Spurs’ academy prospects (or that of virtually every other team in English football) end up sold or released. That doesn’t make them failures. Devine’s a good young player and I have no doubt he’ll have a fantastic professional football career, even if it isn’t at Tottenham. And that’s okay.

Glasgow Times says that Wolves, freshly relegated, are also interested in Alfie. It may come down to Devine whether he wants to start the next phase of his career in Scotland, or in the Championship.