John Hartson aims Norwich City dig over Celtic transfer target Adam Idah | OneFootball

The former striker has criticised the Canaries amid the ongoing saga

John Hartson has taken a swipe at Norwich City for their handling of Adam Idah, who has continually been linked with a return to Celtic after impressing for Brendan Rodgers' side last term.

The Republic of Ireland international was sent out on loan to Celtic in the January transfer window, where he scored eight times from 15 Scottish Premiership appearances as the Hoops lifted their third league title in as many years.

Celtic have been eager to lure Idah back to the green side of Glasgow on a permanent basis. The latest update came from Football Insider, who have claimed that the Scottish giants are readying a new bid after seeing their £4m offer rejected last month.

The report adds there are internal concerns at Norwich that Idah is trying to "engineer" his departure from Carrow Road. However, as things stand, the striker is set to feature in the squad to travel to Oxford United this weekend for Johannes Hoff Thorup's first competitive outing.

The Sun had previously reported a £7m asking price for Idah from Norwich and it remains to be seen whether Celtic will meet that valuation.

John Hartson's Norwich City message

Hartson, who featured for both Norwich and Celtic across his 15-year career, has criticised the Canaries for reportedly hiking up such a high asking price for a player who struggled for a consistent starting spot before heading north of the border.

Speaking on the Go Radio Football Show, Hartson explained: "Idah was fantastic by the way, he was really, really good when he came in. Nine goals in 19 appearances, and not all of them were starts.

"I thought he scored some really big goals for Celtic. Really important goals when you need your centre-forward to come in.

"Now he’s gone back. I’m a little bit aggrieved with Norwich because he wasn’t in the team, he was on the bench.

"Celtic gave him a bit of a platform to go and make a name for himself and to give him game-time, which he wasn’t getting a lot at Norwich.

"Now he’s done really well. You half expect it because clubs do get as greedy as they can to try and get as much out of the players as they can, but to be asking reportedly £6.5/7/8 million, and he’s only been playing for six months really regularly in the first-team.

Norwich City's Adam Idah asking price is fair

Norwich certainly aren't willing to let Idah go on the cheap, but that doesn't necessarily mean that their asking price isn't justified either.

Still only 23, Idah has made more than 100 competitive appearances, earned 26 caps at senior international level, and was a revelation in a title-winning team last year, so it makes sense why they're asking for £7m.

Idah proved himself to be a match-winner up at Celtic too and there's no reason why he can't translate that form back into the Championship with a much-needed confidence boost.

Indeed, if his head is in the right place and he stays put then he could well feel like a new signing for the Canaries, who are also not exactly in desperate financial need after selling star midfielder Gabriel Sara to Galatasaray for £20m.