Sebastian Tounekti given rave reviews by Swedish football expert… ‘he’s ready’

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Sebastian Tounekti has joined Celtic at an interesting time.

The club’s summer transfer window was marked by much clamour for signings, and despite Tounekti’s arrival, there is a feeling that the window was far from satisfactory.

Calls for the club to communicate have resulted in a hugely controversial statement from Parkhead higher-ups, defending their safety-first approach to transfer business.

Transfer windows are only ever as good as the results of the team on the pitch – and Tounekti will have a big say in that.

For one Swedish football expert, the Tunisia international could give Celtic fans reasons to be positive, and help an attack which is in desperate need of reinforcements.

Sebastian Tounekti has the X factor, says Swedish football expert

Tounekti joins the Hoops from Hammarby, whom he only signed for in February. He is 23 years old.

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A right footer who favours the left wing, he may have to play on the right due to an imbalance in Celtic’s wide options – Michel-Ange Balikwisha is of the same profile.

Swedish journalist and data scout Anders Lindberg’s focus is on Tounekti though, and judging from his words, Celtic fans’ should be too.

Speaking on Celtic AM, Lindberg said: “I think he’s ready. I have a big picture of him, I like him a lot. The sporting director didn’t want to sell him.

“He has this X factor that a lot of teams want. He’s been this dribbler that can make the difference in a lot of games. He adapted very quickly to Hammarby and he’s been a very key player for them, more or less since day one.

“If you look at football data, he’s on top of dribbles and progressive runs. So he’s a player that can attack with speed, but also can dribble three defenders to get past them.”

Should he carry these numbers into Glasgow, he could well become a fan favourite at Celtic Park.

Sebastian Tounekti had a fascinating career before signing for Celtic

Tounekti’s time at Hammarby was brief – this has been a theme in his career so far. A highly rated teenager in Norway, he was picked up by Bodo/Glimt in 2020.

Tounekti was unable to establish himself at Bodo/Glimt, eventually being loaned out to Groningen in the Netherlands – he was still a player for the Norwegian club when they knocked Celtic out of the Conference League in 2022.

After moving elsewhere in Norway to Haugesund, he still struggled to break through. Rannheim became his fourth Norwegian club when he was loaned there a year later, but on his return to Haugesund, he finally began to shine.

This earned him the move to Stockholm in February, which clearly went well. Celtic fans will hope that his spell in Scotland is lengthier and more successful.