After the well looked like it had run dry, the Celtic transfer rumour mill has gone into overdrive over the last few days with multiple names being thrown around.
This is natural with a Celtic transfer window as every name under the sun gets linked with the club, but the situations surrounding some of the players linked have resulted in some of these rumours seeming a little more concrete.
With two weeks to go in the summer window, if Celtic are going to make some moves then they have to act fast. But will Brendan Rodgers make a move for any of these three who have been recently linked?
Daniel Podence
The 27-year-old Wolves winger has been linked with the club in what would be Celtic’s record acquisition should a move come to fruition.
The Portugal cap was left out of the Wolves squad for the opening fixture of the season against Manchester United and has one year left on his contract at Molineux Stadium which should help give Celtic some leeway with the £12million price-tag which has been placed on the player’s head.
Given that just three years ago Podence moved to Wolverhampton from Olympiacos for £16.7million, Celtic could be priced out of a move. However, the winger played a lot of his best football in Greece for Olympiacos so he doesn’t mind playing outside of the top five leagues as long as European football comes with it.
It would be the statement signing that many fans have been calling for, but the chances of him joining wouldn’t be that likely.
Likelihood – 5/10
Ryan Fraser
A name more familiar to Celtic fans due to his time in Scotland at Aberdeen and in the Scottish national team. At one point in time Ryan Fraser was one of the most creative players in the English Premier League, consistently registering high numbers in terms of goals contributions year after year and forming a formidable partnership with Callum Wilson in his time at Bournemouth.
However, in recent years, attitude problems have been what has held him back. The Scot has fallen out twice now with Magpies boss Eddie Howe, and a questionable mindset that could cause problems amongst a unified Celtic squad is not needed.
The wages on offer down south will mean, despite a potentially cut-price transfer fee, Celtic will have to shell out a fair amount of money on the 29-year-old’s wages.
Celtic have seen success when buying from more shrewd and untapped markets and could certainly get more bang for their buck shopping elsewhere.
Likelihood – 5/10
Quentin Merlin
Recent poor performances have resulted in fans questioning whether Greg Taylor is the man to be starting at left-back for Celtic. Question marks surrounding his deputy Alexandro Bernabei have only added to those cries for another left-back.
It could be argued that Celtic still haven’t signed a like-for-like replacement quality-wise for Kieran Tierney and they would come close to doing that with the signing of Quentin Merlin.
The Nantes full-back has been a promising player in Ligue 1 for a few years now and only missed out on a European double-header against Juventus last season due to injury.
Capped for a stacked French U21 national team and attracting interest from the likes of Aston Villa in recent years, Merlin possesses a lot of the qualities that make a traditional full-back. Merlin notched up two assists last season for one of the weaker Ligue 1 teams, but you would imagine with the likes of Kyogo Furuhashi getting on the end of those crosses his numbers would only improve.
However, reports suggest it is just ‘interest’ at this stage with no concrete offers or enquiries being submitted.
Likelihood – 3/10
JAMES MCKENZIE
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.