Celtic and Club Brugge have been joined by AZ Alkmaar in the race for Jari de Busser.
Celtic have already made Go Ahead Eagles aware of their interest in de Busser, with a goalkeeper a necessity for their rebuild this summer.
Martin O’Neill was forced to use Viljami Sinisalo towards the back end of the season, and Kasper Schmeichel has now retired due to his severe shoulder injury.
De Busser is one of their targets, but by the looks of things, the Hoops will need to win a race for his services.
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AZ Alkmaar launch bid to sign Jari de Busser from Go Ahead Eagles
According to Soccernews in the Netherlands, AZ are ‘trying to push for a quick agreement’ for De Busser, but this is not close at present.
He would come in as competition for highly-rated 21-year-old AZ keeper Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro.
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AZ’s interest is ironic, as it was De Busser’s penalty shootout heroics that denied them in the KNVP Cup Final against Go Ahead last year.
GA Eagles have already announced the signing of Kjetil Haug on a free transfer from Toulouse as De Busser’s goalkeeping replacement.
Celtic’s interest in de Busser is described as ‘tentative’, so no offers appear to have been sent for the 26-year-old.
This season, no goalkeeper in the Dutch top-flight has registered better underlying shot-stopping numbers.
His teammate, 22-year-old Danish midfielder Jakob Breum, is also of interest to the Hoops, who chased him so publicly last summer.
The interest has reportedly been reignited, so this time they’ll be hoping not to be mocked by the Go Ahead Eagles sporting director as they were during last summer’s window.
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Jari de Busser has asked Celtic to come forward
De Busser has already told the media that he is simply waiting for his next club to come forward amid all the transfer speculation.
He said: “The plan is for me to take the next step. I have said it before, and it is also being done in consultation with the club.
“They are aware of the situation, and we discussed it before this season. But well, a club has to come forward first.”
De Busser is 6 ft 3 in tall, and started his career in his native Belgium. He wasn’t a starting goalkeeper at any level until his mid-20s.
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