Celtic are reported to be interested in signing Demir Tiknaz, a 20-year-old Turkish midfielder.
During the 24/25 season he was on loan from Besiktas to Portuguese side Rio Ave who are believed to have an option to make the move permanent for 5m euros with that option expiring on Tuesday.
That makes the situation around Tiknaz quite complicated but that should clear up by the time the midfielder returns from international duty with Turkey.
He is the same age as Arne Engels was when he was signed from Augsburg last summer, ideally Celtic would prefer players slightly older and more experienced but most fans would agree that Engels will improve with a full pre-season with Brendan Rodgers under his belt.
Central or defensive midfield has been an area that Celtic have been looking to strengthen for some time, there hasn’t really been a like for like replacement for Scott Brown with Victor Wanyama, signed in 2011 the last enforcer type signing to make a real first team impact.
On Saturday morning Portuguese publisher Abola reported:
The list of suitors for Demir Tiknaz continues to grow. After our newspaper reported interest from Lille (France),THE BALLis now in a position to announce that Celtic Glasgow (Scotland) also has the young midfielder in mind.
The British club has already initiated initial contacts with Rio Ave to try to understand how they can move forward with a concrete proposal, but the Rio Ave directors will only look into the matter after buying the player from Besiktas .
Rio Ave’s option to acquire Tiknaz from the Turkish side – worth five million euros – expires next Tuesday and once the operation is completed, they will have full negotiating power to respond to offers, which will have to be based on €10 million.
Although the transfer window isn’t officially open clubs are free to buy and sell any players with registrations and international clearance opening on June 16 through until September 1.
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Don’t want to be negative but can’t see the board buying anybody new. The DR trying to stir up trouble saying BR will be signing 6 new players to raise expectations, We have been here before and somewhat.
I have no doubt Taylor will resign as he has nowhere to go.
Taylor can go he passes back to much and brings nothing out wide and his pull backs are poor he is alright for spl and let’s people know if there not pulling there weight his work rate is 100 percent but passing ball back to much in spl he should be pushing forward how many times he races into opposition half just to turn round and pass ball back so frustrating
Why pick on Taylor for that? You could say the same about anyone in defence or midfield. It’s all part of Brendan’s ‘horseshoe’ system and as frustrating as fuck.
Agreed.
I would think Celtic would contact Besiktas first to say that if the club the player was loaned to don’t pick up their option to buy then we would buy the player for that price.
Why would Celtic tip their hand to a club who might not want to buy the player only to double the fee we would pay.
The story sounds nonsense to me…….. so it must be true.
Engels will improve with a pre-season under his belt…..What the hell does thst mean ??…You’re either a very good player…or you’re not…And he’s ok at best…and no amount of pre-season will change that…Honest tae feck…!!
Editor: When a 20/21 year-old Belgian switches from a German club to a Scottish club on August 31 he misses a crucial part of the season. It is kinda why clubs do pre-season training – to make players better.
CFC could not have signed anyone softer if they signed Michael Jackson in his Peter Pan phase. If he plays the whole of next season we won’t win the league. Some genius at Parkhead decided to make him pen taker to obscure his goals deficiency – 2 goals & 13 assists compared to O’Riley 18 goals & 16 assists the previous season at Celtic. McArdle is a much better player.