Celtic are reported to be targeting the signing of two strikers.
In January Kyogo Furuhashi was sold to Rennes without any replacement coming in, fortunately Daizen Maeda hit the best scoring form of his Celtic career as he overtook Adam Idah as first choice striker.
Callum Osmond has come in from Fulham but without a single senior appearance it is clear that he can’t be relied on to be an instant first team option.
Late on Monday night Robert Grieve and Derek McGregor of The Sun reported that two striker deals are well underway:
CELTIC are targeting TWO new strikers as Brendan Rodgers looks to replace Kyogo Furuhashi.
Italy Under-21 cap Giuseppe Ambrosino could arrive on loan from Napoli.
And a £1.5million deal for Japanese attacker Shin Yamada has moved closer.
Rodgers is also closing on Belgian winger Michel-Ange Balikwisha, with Nicolas Kuhn travelling to Como to seal his £17m exit from Parkhead.
The Sun then quotes Brendan Rodgers saying:
We lost some really important players. Kyogo went and then Nicolas is possibly leaving. We know we need to improve and I’m pretty sure we will over the summer.
In first team numbers terms Celtic have gained Kieran Tierney and Ben Nygren with Greg Taylor and Nicolas Kuhn (virtually) no longer around.
Other fringe deals have been completed, incoming and outgoing but with pre-season well underway Rodgers is looking to get first team options signed up and delivered to the training ground.
The SPFL Premiership opener against St Mirren is four weeks away, the day after that, August 4 the draw takes place for the Champions League Play Off with those ties being played on August 19/20 and 26/27.
Until we have it confirmed by someone at the club there is no way of knowing if our reported interest is genuine. However let’s assume for arguments sake that the stories are true. Firstly the Italian striker Ambrosino, he’s so far out of the picture at Napoli he isn’t even listed in their squad on Fotmob.
He has been out on loan since 2022 at 4 clubs making 83 appearances and scoring 10 goals. I appreciate he is still young but he is hardly the proven senior player that is required to replace Kyogo.
Secondly Yamada, he at least has top flight j league experience. Last season was his best goal scoring return with 22 goals in 57 appearances. This season has seen a dramatic fall off in his numbers however with only 4 goals in 22 games, and only 2 of these have come in the league.
In conclusion, these players are nowhere near the standard required to improve the squad and should be rejected by Brendan. These are two cheap options the board would be happy to sign off on to protect the surplus cash in the bank while at the same time giving the appearance the club is busy in the transfer market.
As always it is PLC first, FC second with our board. Nothing will change at Celtic until the board does.
Spot on, Pilgrim.
If you want to try to make some ‘progress’ email it to the SLO at CP and demand an answer from the fat, lazy chairman explaining that 10s of thousands of us feel the same and know the truth.
Great comment!
Two more strikers targeted. If true, and I don’t believe half of what’s written in the Scottish Sports Press…Johnny Kenny must be disappointed.
Brendan has plans for Johnny, so he says ?
Maik Nawrocki said he was “Incredibly happy to be leaving Celtic”. I can understand those feelings. He was a Polish Youth
International at most ages . He showed Fans later last season that he was a Celtic First player, equal to Carl Starfelt under Ange and.John Kennedy. Under John Kennedy’s coaching, Maik would have improved out of sight this new season… if only!.
How many players are “incredibly unhappy” at Celtic?. There must be many fringe players silently feeling contempt with the Club for the uncertain future they find themselves in. It can be demoralizing for professional players when they are hung out to dry..
I blame poor recruiting and over buying with the goal of profiteering on sales after a Loan period and benefiting.from the Firsts winning reputation.
Brendan said at a recent presser: in defense of buying Hayato Inamura; that he wasn’t a Firsts Player, yet, He did not say
outright, that Hayato would go out on Loan. The Media said that. Fans said with justification, Hayato was a “Project Player”. I would love to know how Hayato feels now. Does he feel duped?
Did Hayato know Brendan’s intentions before signing the contract or was Brendan by-passed in the recruiting process?.
Yeah, I reckon we’ve already brought in enough projects. We obviously need quality additions in several positions and Balikwisha could prove to be a very exciting prospect if we manage to land him but our priority should be a 10+ million striker with a notable track record that would represent a massive upgrade on Adam Idah. We have to be well-prepared with plenty of firepower for that vital CL qualifier.
If miovski is available then please go and get him he would fit in right away.
Isn’t it a fact that big Ange would have had the new recruits all signed sealed and delivered by now ..no matter how many he required , if still the Celtic Guv’ nor ?
Just who is the last player Celtic bought as the finished article, brought in to start having an indisputable record from whence he came?
A regular starter with a reputation?
Not a shot in the dark, a project, or one for the future PL can make a buck on.
Broony?
Kyogo
Get these 3 done, a strong CH and Paddy Berg……
56 + counting.
HH
Don’t listen to The Scummy’s !