Set to step up their recruitment drive- report tips a busy week of Celtic transfer business

Scott Burns is confidently predicting a week of incoming transfer activity at Celtic as the first members of Ange Postecoglou’s squad clock in for pre-season training. 

Deals have been completed for Daizen Maeda and Cameron Carter-Vickers to return with Ben Siegrist replacing Vasilis Barkas as competition to Joe Hart. 

There is still more than a month to go before the opening SPFL Premiership match against Aberdeen but Burns, whose Twitter bio includes the claim ‘Partial to a transfer or 2’ tells the Daily Record to expect a busy week of transfer business:  

Celtic are set to step up their recruitment drive this week with Alexandro Bernabei set to be the first through the door. And Josip Juranovic’s camp have made it clear the right-back is happy at Parkhead, despite reported interest from Atletico Madrid. 

Bernabei arrived in Glasgow to finalise his move late last week and will battle it out with Greg Taylor for starting spot. He’s expected to pen a five-year deal as he arrives from Lanus. 

Celtic have already signed Cameron Carter-Vickers on a permanent basis and a similar agreement is expected as far as Jota is concerned imminently. An agreement with Benfica has been reached over a £6.4m move after the Portuguese star made himself a hero in their charge to the Premiership title last season and it’s only a matter of time before an announcement is made. 

The champions are also looking to add to their striking options and are well down the line with a couple of options. Brazilian midfielder Vinicius Souza, who has been on loan at Lommel, is another who the Hoops have looked at. 

There is an anticipation that the Jota and Bernabei deals will be completed this week with both players on the flight to Austria where Celtic will step up their pre-season work with two friendly matches. 

Beyond that things will get interesting with the strongest speculation linking Vinicius Souza with a move from Lommel to Celtic. Whether that is on loan or on a permanent basis it would be quite a coup with Ajax and PSV Eindhoven both linked with the Brazilian midfielder.