Dutch defender, Xavier Mbuyamba is now ‘high on a list’ of Celtic targets according to a report from the Daily Mail. The Volendam defender has been linked to Celtic over the course of the summer but now, it seems Celtic are making him one of their priorities as Brendan Rodgers looks to strengthen the Hoops back line.
The report also claims that Mbuyamba is expected to leave Volendam in the summer window and that Celtic face competition for his signature. Ajax are also said to hold an interest in the 21-year-old.
Mbuyamba began his youth career at the Dutch club MVV Maastricht and become the youngest-ever player to make a debut for the club.
The youngster then moved to Barcelona’s youth academy in 2019 where he spent a season before then deciding to join Chelsea’s youth academy in 2020.
Mbuyamba is known for his physical attributes, technical skills, and ability to read the game which made him a promising young talent in the world of football. His preferred position is centre-back, and he has been compared to former Celtic defender, Virgil van Dijk. [Goal]
67 Hail Hail have previously discussed how Mbuyamba was linked to Celtic back in May after Sky Sports said that the club were ‘looking into’ signing the Dutch defender.
We also discussed how Mbuyamba seemed to cool the link to Celtic when the defender said that his preference would be to stay in Dutch football.
Celtic have clearly not looked stable at the back since Cameron Carter-Vickers went out the side to have surgery towards the end of last season.
Yuki Kobayashi struggled to make any kind of impact and was dropped to the bench in favour of Tomoki Iwata for the final few games of the season, including the Scottish Cup Final.
Yesterday’s defensive display against Yokohama F Marinos showed that there is still work needing to be done in Celtic’s backline and it looks like Brendan Rodgers could see Mbuyamba as an addition that could help strengthen that area of the team.
In other news, Liel Abada on Turkish club’s summer transfer list; Rodgers reacts to double transfer rumour
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