All eyes are on Osnabruck on Saturday as Celtic’s interest in Mika Baur continues.
On July 21 Fabrizio Romano reported that personal terms had been agreed between Celtic and the midfielder.
That was an unusual turn of events.
Convention is to agree terms between clubs before permission is sought to speak to the player.
Ten days on from Romano’s tweet no agreement has been reached between the clubs with the SPFL season almost underway.
Last night Paderborn beat Southampton 2-1 in a friendly but Baur missed out due to a cold.
That illness has attracted lots of attention from non-medical types but with a year remaining on his contract Paderborn remain in control of the midfielder.
Covering the Southampton match and Baur’s situation, Kicker reports:
Sought-after player absent due to cold – Saturday in Osnabrück
On Saturday (3:30 p.m.), the East Westphalians will be guests of their Lower Saxon neighbours VfL Osnabrück for their season opener. Timur Gayret (recovering from a cruciate ligament tear) and Awortwie-Grant will still be unavailable.
The match could also come too soon for Sebastian Klaas (adductors), Nick Bätzner (knee), and Götze.
It remains to be seen whether Mika Baur will be back in the squad. The midfielder, who continues to be courted by Celtic Glasgow, sat out the Southampton match with a cold.
With Paderborn preparing for their Bundesliga return at the end of August they appear to be in no rush to sell Baur to Celtic.
THE WAITING GAME FOR MIKA BAUR
From January a pre-contract deal can be agreed but that isn’t of much use with Celtic preparing for a Champions League Play Off.
Even if a transfer fee could be agreed Baur is likely to be behind his new Celtic team-mates in terms of fitness.
The hoops only have matches against Dundee, Kilmarnock and Dundee United before they go into their Champions League Play Off.
As it stands it looks like Martin O’Neill will go into those matches with a midfield similar to last season.
Many Celtic fans expected brisk transfer activity during June and July but to date only two strikers have been added to the first team squad.
August could be a month of heightened activity.
For now Baur appears to be the most likely transfer target with his availability, or otherwise for Saturday’s friendly against Osnabruck certain to be keenly followed.
The Scottish transfer window closes on September 3.
???? Understand Celtic have reached an agreement with Mika Baur on personal terms.
Club to club talks ongoing with Padernorn. pic.twitter.com/B2y8peXzoP
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 21, 2026
Doesn’t make sense.
The Board can somehow buy an £11M player,
but can’t close the deal on a player less than half that price?
…and the player had already committed, by agreeing personal terms at least 9 days earlier?
Not a good look?
Well Bob surely you wouldn’t buy a Skoda for the price of a Rolls Royce would you ?
Ach so much lies, lies and more F@ckin lies going around about the transfer market !
The fee probably WAS all agreed until some middle-man agent popped up out of nowhere demanding his cut. Celtic have a reputation – going right back to the bunnet – for not acquiescing to that sort of malarkey. Unfortunately it can derail some deals entirely….