The highly rated Celtic defender Matthew Anderson has completed a cut-price move to Belgian second-tier outfit KV Kortrijk after undergoing a medical and signing a three-year-contract with the West Flanders-based club.
The Scotland Under-21 international has spent the last two seasons on loan at Admira Wacker as part of Celtic’s partnership with the Austrian club. He was a crucial member of the Admira side which narrowly missed out on promotion to the Austrian Bundesliga in the season just ended and was named in the Admiral 2.Liga team of the year for 20223/24.
Anderson failed to make his senior debut for Brendan Rodgers’ first team but did play a part in last summer’s tour of the United States, featuring in matches against DC United, Manchester City and Chelsea - and with a year left on his Celtic deal, coupled with the return of Kieran Tierney to the champions this summer, the opportunity to pursue first team football was too good to turn down.
The ambitious Belgian club, owned by the Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan, were relegated from the top flight at the end of the season but have hopes of a return to the Jupiler League at the first attempt and have recently appointed Michiel Jonckheere, the former Club Brugge assistant, as their new manager.
They have seen off competition from a number of teams across Europe for Anderson, including Sky Bet League 1 Exeter City, the Austrian clubs Ried and WSG Tirol, and French side Toulouse, while Aberdeen and Hearts had also expressed an interest in the 21-year-old.
It is understood that Celtic are wary of another Aaron Hickey or Andy Robertson scenario unfolding with Anderson, who had one year remaining on his contract. Both full-backs went on to make big money moves to the Premier League after leaving Celtic and Anderson has attracted significant interest from Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Leeds United in the past. But while the fee for Anderson is understood to be minimal Celtic have demanded a significant sell-on clause in any future transfer.
The move comes just days after Celtic first team coach Stephen McManus said that he believed Anderson, formerly the B team captain, was destined for the top.
McManus told the Daily Record: "He's got a massive future in the game, absolutely massive. He's a terrific boy with a brilliant family, and again, you can only stay with us, with the B team, for a couple of seasons.
"Matthew outgrew the B team two years ago. That's why he's not played for the B team. That's why the next stage of his development was to go out and loan.
"Some people make their debut at 16 and then go and play for the rest of their careers. Some people are 21, 20, they need to go a different route. That's fine.
"But what you need to do is, when you get an opportunity, you need to try and become a football player, and that's what Matthew's done.
"He's a terrific boy, terrific worker from a terrific family, and he'll be a top player."
