Celtic are reported to be showing interest in Mohanad Jeahze who plays for Hammerby.
The 25-year-old Iraqi internationalist seems to have developed rapidly in recent years and ticks a few of the boxes that Ange Postecoglou has previously touched on for transfer business.
Ahead of signing three players from the J-League in January the Celtic boss mentioned other markets for players, referencing untapped Asian leagues as sources for players.
Although born and raised in Sweden Jeahze has recently made his debut for the Iraq national team, making three appearances in total.
Sweden has turned out to be an excellent source of players for Celtic with Henrik Larsson (Feyenoord), Mikael Lustig (Rosenborg) and Johan Mjallby (AIK) providing exceptional service.
With his experience of Swedish football Jeahze shouldn’t require too much time to adapt to Scottish football with the recent Scottish Cup semi-final demonstrating the lack of options available to Postecoglou.
Earlier in the season Adam Montgomerie and Boli Bolingoli got game time at left-back but at Hampden Tony Ralston was switched to the other full-back position when Greg Taylor couldn’t continue.
Tonight, The Sun reports:
CELTIC are tracking Hammarby defender Mohanad Jeahze with a view to making a £2million swoop.
SunSport can reveal the 25-year-old is in the frame to compete for the left-back position next season.
Hoops boss Ange Postecoglou wants a new defender in as soon as the summer window opens and highly-rated Jeahze fits the bill.
Polish side Lech Poznan have already had a bid rejected for the Swedish-born Iraq star, who worked under ex-Rangers boss Dick Advocaat for his national team.
Hammarby, who are top of the Swedish league, landed Jeahze from rivals Mjallby in 2020 and have developed him into the most exciting attacking left-back in the country over the past two seasons.
They flatly rejected Poznan’s bid last summer but expect more interest in him this time around from across Europe.
Liam Scales seemed to be progressing as back-up to Taylor during the winter months but hasn’t made an appearance since starting the Europa Conference match away to Bodo Glimt.
Turning 24 in August, if the deal for Jeahze goes through it would be hard to see much of a future for Scales at Celtic.
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Aaron Hickey plays against top players each week with Bologna in Serie A. Would love to see him playing for us.
Editor: Sadly a former CEO jumped at a 30% sell on clause from Hearts. Hickey’s team-mates from the Celtic 2002’s haven’t made much progress. Hopefully those days are over.