By Alex McLeish

11th Dec, 2021 | 8:00am

McLeish tips Celtic to pull off Carter-Vickers 'steal' after insider's £2.5m reveal

Alex McLeish has backed Celtic to sign Cameron Carter-Vickers from Tottenham for a potential “bargain” next year.

The former Scotland boss, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, hailed the improvement shown by the 23-year-old since joining on loan.

Tottenham insider John Wenham, who regularly breaks news about Spurs on his Lilywhite Rose social media channels, told this site (6 December) he expects the north Londoners to accept an offer of £2.5-3million for the defender.

He stated Spurs were willing to sell for £2.5million this summer and that a reported £10million optional purchase clause is “ridiculous”.

McLeish insisted a transfer figure of up to £3million would prove a “steal” for the Bhoys.

Asked what he thought of the possible fee for Carter-Vickers, McLeis htold Football Insider’s Russell Edge: “I think he’s worth that all day long. Some people may feel he’s worth more.

“He’s got to get to that level. From what I’ve seen, that’s pretty much a bargain. You don’t get players at that kind of level of money for the level of the game that he’s playing out.

“It sounds like an absolute steal because he’s been an ever-present, almost. He’s still young, so in the modern-day, the prices being bandied about, you’d think Carter-Vickers would have been more.

“In the beginning, they had teething problems working with the defence trying to get them to understand each other.

“There’s been a lot more consistency since we first saw the Celtic defence at the beginning.”

Celtic confirmed they have the option to buy Carter-Vickers when they signed him on loan in August.

He has made 18 appearances for the Bhoys so far, 13 more than he has for his parent club.

In other news, injury expect suggests Celtic star out for seven weeks after injury update.