Celtic’s transfer business has been under the microscope for months now.
A wave of fan protests have put the club’s leaders under pressure after the squad was left under-prepared for this season’s Champions League qualifiers.
Eventually, this was the cause for Brendan Rodgers’ departure. The Northern Irishman was accused of being ‘self-serving’ and ‘divisive’ by Dermot Desmond.
Wilfried Nancy now appears to be the man to replace him, after Martin O’Neill was brought back to the club on a temporary basis.
Nancy is currently at Columbus Crew, and Rodgers is familiar with one of his players who he reportedly wanted to bring to Celtic.
Celtic wanted to sign Columbus Crew striker Jacen Russell-Rowe
Celtic have plenty of strikers on their books at the minute.
Kelechi Iheanacho, Callum Osmand, Shin Yamada, Johnny Kenny and Daizen Maeda are all potential centre forwards who are currently on the club’s books.
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Kenny is currently the Hoops’ clear first-choice number nine after four goals in four games under O’Neill, whilst Iheanacho also made an impressive start to his Hoops career until suffering his injury setback.
But Celtic are already fans of one of Nancy’s strikers at Columbus, and could rekindle their interest in January should he want to reunite with him.
The Sun reported last year that Celtic had launched a bid for Jacen Russell-Rowe, with Rodgers a fan of the player.
Russell-Rowe is a Canadian international teammate of Alistair Johnston, and scored nine times in MLS this season.
Tall and blessed with strong hold-up play, the 23-year-old’s contract expires next month, but Columbus hold an option to extend it by another year.
He scored in two of Columbus’ best-of-three play-off games against rivals Cincinnati, which ended in defeat last week. These were his first goals since June.
He isn’t the only Columbus player with previous transfer links to Celtic – midfielder, captain and club legend Darlington Nagbe was linked in Rodgers’ first spell, and retired after the Cincinnati tie aged 36.
Other Columbus Crew players that Wilfried Nancy could bring to Celtic
Palestinian striker Wessam Abou Ali represented a real coup when brought to Columbus from Al-Ahly for $7.5 million in July. Ali scored a hat-trick against Porto at the Club World Cup prior to leaving.
Left-wing-back Max Arfsten is a regular in the US national side and widely tipped for a move to Europe – he is definitely one to keep an eye on.
So too is goalkeeper Patrick Schulte, who has similar confidence on the ball to Kasper Schmeichel and could replace him next summer.
Undoubtedly Columbus’ star player however is Uruguayan forward Diego Rossi, who would probably be out of Celtic’s price range.
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