Hasan Ali Kaldirim of Fenerbahce is the new name being linked with Celtic this morning.
With Kolo Toure in Glasgow for signing talks the transfer merrygoround seems rto be back in action with the Daily Record are claiming that Kaldirim is one of the players identified by Brendan Rodgers and his scouting team to shore up the vulnerable defence.
With a year left on his contract £2m would be the top fee that Fenerbahce could expect, as the transfer window closes that will reduce with no sign of a new deal on offer.
The prospect of Kaldirim lining up against Astana seem highly remote- a work permit would probably be required- leaving Rodgers to plan around a defensive duo of Mikael Lustig and Erik Sviachenko.
With his versatility Kaldirim can fill in most defensive positions but in that area of the team having a settled selection, players that understand each other is essential as the Craig Gordon, Jason Denayer and Virgil van Dijk partnership proved.
CLICK ON the gallery above to find out more about our Turkish target.
What age is Kaldirim?
At 27 he should be running into the best form of his career. Defenders tend to take longer to knock off the rough edges with Kaldirim having been around the game long enough to understand what is required for a successful back line.
At 24 Erik Sviachenko is considered an older experienced type, bringing in a 27-year-old with strong international experience for club and country can only help the other defenders and help develop the spine that every team needs to succeed.
Where did Fenerbahce get him from?
A fee of £4m was needed to sign Kaldirim from Kayserispor in 2012, big money for an internal transfer at the time.
Kaldirim started his career with Kaiserlautern before moving on to Mainz 05 as one of the many players of Turkish extraction growing up in Germany.
After 19 appearances for Mainz 05 the call to go to Turkey came and the chance to build his international career with Kayserispor.
Did he play against Celtic last season?
Wearing the number 3 shirt he played the full 90 minutes in both matches, the 2-2 draw at Celtic Park followed by a 1-1 draw in Istanbul long after Celtic’s qualification hopes had died a death.
The Fenerbahce defence looked no great shakes as Celtic raced into a 2-0 lead in the home fixture- unfortunately with Ronny Deila’s defence in generous mood a straightforward home win turned into another fraught 2-2 draw.
How did he get on last season?
All in he played in 31 matches, scoring one, picking up five yellow and one red card which is par for the course for a defender.
Strangely the build up to the home match with Celtic seemed to be a troubled time with two yellow cards followed by a red against Gaziantepspor in the build up to a dead rubber against Deila’s side! Away to Molde he picked up a yellow card in the 2-0 win over the Norwegians.
Is he worth it?
Getting a time served defender with experience of playing in Europe and 16 international caps for £2m or less seems great value.
Finding players just off the radar of clubs from the biggest leagues is quite a knack with Virgil van Dijk and Viktor Wanyama the best examples of that type of scouting.
Any defender coming into Celtic is assured of a warm welcome- and sky high expectations- in Kaldirim it seems that an identikit defender has been found.