Celtic and Rangers have both reportedly had bids rejected for Exeter City’s rising defensive star Alfie Pond. The teenager made his senior debut for the League One side last season, featuring for against Chelsea’s U23s in the Papa Johns EFL Trophy and against Cheltenham Town in the same competition.
Grecians manager Matt Taylor revealed after a 1-0 pre-season friendly defeat to Torquay United, for which he was an unused substitute, at the weekend that the club had turned down “a couple of really low offers from clubs north of the border” for the giant 18-year-old stopper.
Devon Live report that “Rangers and Celtic the clubs thought to have made offers well short of the Grecians’ valuation”. Pond came through the ranks at St James’ Park but hasn’t featured much in pre-season due to intense speculation over his future with just a year left on his deal. Boss Taylor added: “We have wanted to play him more but he has not been in the right headspace.
“We have turned down a couple of really low offers from clubs north of the border in relation to his contract and that is not resolving itself anytime soon. We have a fantastic loan opportunity on the table but the player and agent are turning that down at the moment.
“It is beyond me why players don’t want to play football and all of a sudden they sit on the bench and wait for the contract to run out based on advice they get elsewhere. It doesn’t help the club or the player or buying club. We want our young players to play as much but for whatever reason that situation hasn’t materialised into anything positive.”
Rangers and Celtic have both tried to snap up top English young talent where they can take advantage of the cross-border rule. This summer alone the Ibrox side snapped up Zak Lovelace from English Championship side Millwall and the Hoops signed Joey Dawson from Scunthorpe United two years ago.
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