Reports: Man Utd’s Tyler Blackett set to join Celtic on season-long loan

Manchester United defender Tyler Blackett will spend the 2015/16 season on loan at Celtic, according to the Daily Mail.

The Glaswegian giants are also reported to have asked for a “first refusal buy-out clause” of £4 million.
Blackett played 11 times for the Red Devils in 2014/15, as Louis van Gaal continually shuffled the defence in the manager’s debut Premier League season.

It was also the Manchester-born centre-back’s first taste of the English top flight, after loan spells in the Championship in 2013/14 with Blackpool and Birmingham.
Blackett’s last game for United was a 1-1 draw against Arsenal. In what may well be his final act for his hometown club, the defender came on as a substitute to score an own-goal; diverting Theo Walcott’s cross in from a tight angle, which ended United’s hopes of a third-place finish last season.

In 2014/15, Blackett made one defensive error, which didn’t lead to a goal, as he featured as both a centre-half and left-back.

His passing accuracy of 85% placed him eighth in United’s defence, whilst the number of duels he won per game (4.13) was also the eighth highest of the club’s 10 defenders.

Blackett’s parent club avoided disaster in the Champions League group stage draw, avoiding the true European heavyweights. Instead, their top seed draw was PSV, with CSKA Moscow and Wolfsburg also in United’s group.

The 21-year-old’s future club meanwhile are in the Europa League. Celtic were handed a difficult draw – Ajax, Fenerbache and Molde make up the group.