Eduvie Ikoba is being reported to be a Celtic transfer target by the Daily Record.
Evidence of interest in the Zalaegerszeg striker is reported to be in the Hungarian media without any specific source named. A search on Twitter comes up with a tweet on May 5 from an American account with 2,500 followers.
Over the last 12 months Ange Postecoglou has signed players from Argentina, Japan, Canada and South Korea which opens up all options with Ikoba an American internationalist playing in the Hungarian League.
The Record reports:
Eduvie Ikoba is a reported summer transfer target for Celtic.
The Hoops are closing in on a Treble under Ange Postecoglou but they won’t stand still as the Premiership kings look to improve on last season’s Champions League campaign. And Hungarian media claim Celtic, alongside Bundesliga club Stuttgart, are on the case of Ikoba, who has netted 13 times this season for Zalaegerszeg, who play in the top flight of Hungarian football.
Despite winning back-to-back titles every area of the Celtic side could be improved on this summer as Postecoglou gets to work on his fifth transfer window.
The first two windows had an element of fire fighting as he raced to assemble a squad from Neil Lennon’s handover but with a second Champions League campaign to prepare for the bar has been raised.
CLICK HERE for Ikoba’s Transfermarkt profile.
I love all these rumours however is there not any Scottish trained players that we could sign? Unfortunately we play in Scotland and UEFA rules mean that in our european squad we MUST have 8 Scottish trained players and 17 non Scottish trained. Unless the idea is to only register 22 or 23 and keep the likes of Vata , Summers etc in the B squad (European regulation I mean not the Lowland league B team) until they are too old (21) and must be included in the A squad? OR these players are replacements for other Non Scottish players (Abada, Starfelt – players who have been “rumoured” to be targets for other clubs)
I would still like to a name we have heard of getting a mention with us.
I agree. At the start of the Ange regime we had a decimated squad and no CL money. The last batch of signings was OK, but Oh, Kobayashi and Iwato have not really had the same impact as Kyogo, Abada, Hatate, Maeda Jota, CCV, etc, or even Giako and Juranovic – despite being signed when we were in a stronger, more stable position. Johnston is arguably the only big success of the last transfer window.
The first few windows were a case of needs must and exceeded expectations by a mile, but we had CL group stage money again last season, some of which is still in the bank, and we are guaranteed more in the coming season. Being able to offer CL football is also a big selling point.
If the likes of Hatate or Abada go to the EPL, an eight figure fee for each is also not unrealistic. We don’t need more than a few quality additions, so let’s push the boat out a bit, focus on quality rather than quantity, and get some players in the door that can take us up another level.
We’ve seen the movie a few times now, where we spend £6-7m on 3-4 mediocre (being kind) unknown/project signing/squad filler players, rather than on one high quality, experienced player that can really give us an edge. It didn’t end well.
It’s first team ready players we need, not more Lawwell projects.
There’s plenty of money in the bank – get some of it spent to strengthen the first team.
With the huns struggling for cash it’ll be interesting to see how much Desmond and Lawwell want to spend this summer. Bare minimum would be my guess, regardless of the cash in the bank.