Celtic will need to fork out £4.2m if they want to sign Carl Starfelt from Rubin Kazan.
Word emerged yesterday about Celtic’s interest in the central defender who joined the Russian side two years ago from IFK Gotaborg.
Over the last 12 months Celtic have lost Jozo Simunovic, Jack Hendry and Hatem Abd Elhamed as central defensive options. With Kris Ajer likely to leave during this window Ange Postecoglou is seriously short of options in this area of the team.
With the exception of Freddie Ljungberg Celtic have had an exceptional record with Swedish players. Starfelt seems to tick all of the boxes with Swedish website Expressen reports:
Carl Starfelt was not selected in the Swedish European Championship squad, but still seems to have caught the attention of big clubs. The Scottish big club Celtic has now started talks with the Swede, which silly season journalist Fabrizio Romano was the first to reveal. Starfelt is currently playing in Russian Rubin Kazan where he has a contract until June 2024.
If the deal is completed for the Swedish midfielder, his latest Swedish club, IFK Gothenburg, will receive ten percent of the sum. If he went for 50 million Swedish kronor, then Blåvitt would get five million. Starfelt recruited Rubin Kazan in July 2019 and last season he played 31 games and three goals for the Russian club.
Three international matches
When the World Cup qualifier started in March, he sat on the bench against both Georgia and Kosovo. Subsequent training match against Estonia, he played 90 minutes.
In the away match against Arsenal Tula on May 8 in the Russian Premier League, Starfelt scored his latest goal for the club. On a corner in the 66th minute, he went up and scored his third goal of the season in the winning match.
In Rubin Kazan, Starfelt has made progress and has been one of the main players in the last season. Much thanks to star coach Leonid Slutsky.
– He has meant a lot. When he came to Rubin Kazan, I had not played at all in principle and my self-confidence was not at its peak. When Leonid comes and gives me the chance and sees something in me, it is very important, Starfelt said in an interview with GT last autumn.
Starfelt extended his contract with the Russian club as late as February, but now looks set to leave it if the deal goes awry.
50 million Swedish kronor is around £4.2m
At the age of 26 Starfelt is at an ideal age for Celtic, having settled in Russia moving to Glasgow shouldn’t present him with too many problems.
Celtic have been notorious for their slow moving transfer activities but with 13 days until they face Midtjylland in the Champions League things are getting very tight to get new signings bedded in to Postecoglou’s style of play.
