It was a mixed Champions League midweek for Celtic fans and gaffer Brendan Rodgers as we went down 2-1 to Bayern Munich at Parkhead in the first leg of our Knockout Round Play Off, but with Daizen Maeda’s 79th minute strike there remains hope for an upset when we travel to the Allianz Arena.
The game in many ways also more than firmed up thoughts about Rodgers’ preferred defensive pecking order. The game against Bayern saw Cameron Carter-Vickers line up alongside Auston Trusty in the heart of our defence and we have Liam Scales pushing for far more game time himself. Backing him up we have Dane Murray who clearly impressed in his half season loan spell out with Queen’s Park, and he lined up alongside Scales in last Saturday’s 5-0 clean sheet victory over Raith Rovers. For those fans who like a flutter football odds would favour CCV and Trusty being the preferred starters.
Having rejected a loan offer in the summer, Stephen Welsh headed out in January for KV Mechelen, and we already had the out of favour Gustaf Lagerbielke out with Eredivisie side FC Twente. It is safe to say that the gaffers’ top four options have become solidified this season, and it seems that the 24 year old twice capped Swedish international is now very much surplus to requirements.
His £3 million arrival at Celtic Park from Elfsborg as the Allsvenskan Defender of the Year in the summer of 2023 did not go well, with him quickly dropping out of contention after only six starts and four substitute showings. He is doing better in Holland though, and he has now established himself as a regular in their starting line up and has registered eleven starts, with eight substitute showings and has even returned two goals across all competitions so far.
Speculation on the rumour mill already suggests that the side are very interested in turning the deal permanent at the end of the current campaign, and with it incredibly unlikely that he will now have a future with us, it makes all the sense in the world for us to move him on and improve both our wage budget and transfer budget for the 2025/26 season – particularly with him under contract until the summer of 2028.
It is just one of those deals that has not worked out as anyone would have originally expected, but with him doing well and impressing in FC Twente’s Europa League
campaign (they have also reached the Knockout Play Off phase) it is fully expected that interest in him will be high come the summer, and we should be looking to use that to our advantage as the Eredivisie outfit reportedly do not have an option to buy in the loan agreement.
We shall simply see what the summer ultimately brings for our coffers and Lagerbielke’s long term future, but his current form would imply that we would certainly break even in any future transfer, and we should certainly be looking for more than a nominal profit as well.
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