Former West Ham United defender Gary Breen has caused controversy with comments about Celtic new boy Shane Duffy sparking an angry reaction from an Aston Villa star.
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West Ham and Celtic had been battling it out to sign Duffy.
Aston Villa meanwhile have been busy in the transfer window again taking their spending close to the £100 million mark for the second summer.
The likes of The Daily Record, The Irish Independent and insider ExWHUemployee have all reported West Ham and Celtic’s interest in the 28-year-old Brighton outcast.
Celtic beat West Ham to Duffy signature
West Ham boss David Moyes and his Celtic counterpart Neil Lennon were desperate for defensive reinforcements.
Indeed Moyes still is after Duffy chose boyhood club Celtic over the club his dad supported, West Ham (The Sun).
Now former West Ham flop Gary Breen has caused a stir by questioning Duffy’s decision to play in Scottish football.
Breen, who was famously at fault for all six goals in a 6-0 West Ham FA Cup hammering at Old Trafford in 2003, bemoaned the quality of the Scottish Premiership and said Duffy was putting his international future in jeopardy by moving north of the border.
“For Celtic, I think it is a brilliant signing and he could go down as a club legend as they go for this 10 In A Row season,” Breen told Off The Ball, as also quoted by The Scottish Sun.
Hammers flop Breen causes a stir with comments on Duffy move to Scotland
“This is a brilliant move for Celtic but the quality of player he is playing against now will be a big concern for Ireland. He is not going to be up against quality centre-forwards. There is no centre-forward in Scotland who would play in a Premier League team. None.
“He is going to be playing against lesser quality and that is a concern. If you consider that he has played in the Premier League, he was playing against top-class strikers there all the time. He can cope against these players.
“He might pick up a few bad habits (in Scotland), not because he is lazy but that he isn’t up against quality centre-forwards. Even the likes of Virgil van Dijk came down to Southampton from Celtic with dreadful habits. He wouldn’t get into the right positions quickly enough because he didn’t have to with Celtic.”
The likes of Chris Sutton and others have slammed the former West Ham defender for his comments about Duffy.
Aston Villa star wades in with one-word put down
“Idiotic attack on the Scottish game by Gary Breen suggesting Shane Duffy’s Ireland place maybe under threat because he plays in Scotland,” Sutton said on Twitter.
“It’s been good enough for the likes of Larsson, Van Dijk etc…”
And Aston Villa star John McGinn weighed in with a one-word put down aimed at Breen.
“Donkey,” Aston Villa midfielder McGinn said in reaction to Breen’s comments.
Donkey
— John McGinn (@jmcginn7) September 13, 2020