Celtic are reported to have shown an interest in Chelsea teenager Ian Maatsen who has a very similar profile to Jeremie Frimpong.
Maatsen is expected to join Charlton Athletic on loan with Celtic’s left sided issue resolved by signing Diego Laxalt on a season long loan from AC Milan.
Celtic’s transfer business was notable for the lack of project signings after a glut of players were signed last summer with Frimpong the only one to break into Neil Lennon’s first team.
The Daily Mail reports:
Chelsea’s young full-back Ian Maatsen will join Charlton Athletic on a season-long loan deal. The Dutch 18-year old had interest from Celtic earlier in the window, but will complete is first loan spell to gain first-team experience at The Valley stadium instead.
Chelsea have high aspirations for Maatsen, who joined the club in 2018 from PSV Eindhoven and earned his first-team debut this season in their 2019 7-1 Carabao Cup victory.
Luca Connell and Jonathan Afolabi were signed last summer with Frimpong and Lee O’Connor coming in on deadline day after deals were agreed with Manchester City and Manchester United.
Within a month of signing Frimpong had made his debut, before the end of 2019 he had eased Moritz Bauer and Hatem Abd Elhamed aside as the first choice right-back despite not being named in Celtic’s Europa League group.
It isn’t mentioned in the report of Celtic wanted to sign Maatsen on a permanent basis, Frimpong and O’Conner were both under contract when they moved to Celtic.