Celtic has a little window of time remaining to finalize their incoming and exiting business before the summer transfer season officially closes on Friday.
Since Adam Idah and Paulo Bernardo signed permanent contracts after their loan stints in Glasgow, Brendan Rodgers has not added an outfield player to his roster from the 2023–24 campaign.
Additionally, he has added Viljami Sinisalo and Kasper Schmeichel to the goalkeeping staff in place of Joe Hart, who left Parkhead at the end of the previous campaign after three years.
However, no outfield players have been added to the team that finished as the Scottish Premiership and SFA Cup champions last season.
But with one of Rodgers’ players seemingly destined for a move away from the team, there might be movement in the last days of the summer transfer window.
Premier League team Brighton & Hove Albion is reportedly interested in attacking midfielder Matt O’Riley and could spend up to £30 million to sign him.
After his outstanding play at the top of the pitch during the 2023–24 season, his departure from the Scottish team would be a major loss to the team.
Why Matt O’Riley’s departure would be devastating Since leaving England in 2022, the Denmark international has been a reliable player for the Premiership winners and has established himself as a significant player on the field.
For a reputed £1.5 million, Ange Postecoglou swooped to sign the young prodigy from League One side MK Dons in January 2022. If Celtic were to sell him for more than £25 million, they would have made a huge profit.
In the second half of that season, he scored four goals and provided three assists in 16 games. In his first full season in Scotland, he scored three goals and provided twelve assists in 38 league games.
(Insert video here) Subsequently, the left-footed wizard blossomed under Rodgers’ guidance the previous campaign, consistently proving his abilities as a goal creator and scorer for the Hornets.
O’Riley led Celtic to victory in the Premiership by recording 18 goals and 13 assists in 37 games from a central midfield position.
No player provided as many goals, assists, big chances created, or key passes as O’Riley did in the Premiership for Celtic, which illustrates how important he was to the team.
Whilst the Bhoys may look to replace him with an immediate first-team addition, like LAFC’s Mateusz Bogusz, Rodgers could also land a future star who could be developed into the next O’Riley at Parkhead.
Celtic’s interest in teenage sensation
Earlier this month, Swedish outlet Fotboll Direkt claimed that Celtic are one of a number of teams interested in signing Hammarby youngster Bazoumana Toure.
According to the source, the Hoops are thinking about making a bid for the 18-year-old gem and have dispatched scouts to see him play throughout the summer.
The Ivorian star is reportedly the subject of interest from big European leagues, including Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt, and Crystal Palace. This indicates that there may be fierce competition for his signature. Bayer Leverkusen is the current Bundesliga champion.
Earlier this summer, it was reported that it would take an offer of more than £7.3m to tempt Hammarby into cashing in on their starlet before the end of the window.
It now remains to be seen whether or not Celtic, Palace, Frankfurt, or Leverkusen are willing to offer £7m+ to land the Ivory Coast international to bolster their respective squads over the coming days before Friday’s deadline.
Selling O’Riley to Brighton for £30m could free up some funds for the Hoops to play with and Toure could come in as a future star for the Scottish giants.
Why Celtic should sign Bazoumana Toure
The 18-year-old is an up-and-coming talent who could be developed into a top-quality player for Celtic in the years to come, which means that they could invest in him at £7m+ in the hope that he is worth £30m or more in the future.
He would not be a like-for-like replacement for O’Riley but the teenage whiz is another left-footed attacking midfielder who has the potential to contribute with goals and assists.
Whilst the Danish ace typically operates in a central midfield role, with a license to get forward into attacking positions in a dominant Celtic side, Toure is a left-sided player who has also been deployed as one of two number tens in behind a centre-forward with Hammarby.
The Ivorian sensation, whose form was hailed as “phenomenal” by video scout Elijah Michiels, has enjoyed a strong start to his first-team career in the 2024 Allsvenskan season so far.
Toure has provided quality as both a scorer and a creator of goals from an attacking midfield position, whether that has been wide left in a three or centrally in a two behind a striker.
At the age of 18, he has plenty of time left ahead of him to develop and progress further and there would not be any immediate pressure for him to perform at Parkhead, given that he has yet to prove himself outside of Sweden.
Rodgers could bring him in as a long-term project and look to help him improve on the training pitch over the months and years to come, to develop him into O’Riley 2.0 as another left-footed midfielder who can score and create goals on a consistent basis.
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