Celtic defender Osaze Urhoghide completes loan return; transfer option included

By Lewis Laird

July 27, 2022

Celtic defender Osaze Urhoghide has this evening completed a second loan move to Belgian league side Oostende.

The 22-year-old arrived at Parkhead last summer and was one of Ange Postecoglou’s first signings as Celtic manager, joining on a free from Sheffield Wednesday.

Despite featuring in the opening stages of pre-season last summer, the versatile defender was only able to make one competitive appearance for the club.

After his lack of game time in his first six months at Parkhead, Urhoghide completed his first loan move to Oostende, where he spent the second half of last campaign.

The defender enjoyed his first short stay in Belgium but returned to Celtic in the summer, with Oostende not being able to afford the agreed option to buy deal.

This summer, he spent time under Ange Postecoglou in pre-season once again and featured at right-back due to the absence of injured first-team duo Anthony Ralston and Josip Juranovic.

His final appearance came in a competitive friendly against Rapid Vienna, in which the defender was the only player to play the entire 90 minutes.

Urhoghide wasn’t able to do enough to convince the Celtic manager to make him part of his plans this season, and he has now completed a move back to Oostende for a second loan spell.

The Dutch-born youngster’s move was announced this evening, with Oostende also having the option to buy going into next summer’s transfer window.

Of course, this is the first loan deal that Celtic and Oostende have worked together to make happen, with the Belgian side striking a similar deal for Scottish defender Jack Hendry two seasons ago.

It doesn’t appear that Urhoghide has much of a future at Parkhead under Ange Postecoglou, with the club offering Oostende a similar deal to the loan he spent in Belgium last season.

He will be hoping to continue to impress in Europe across the entire season this time and earn himself a permanent move.

We wish him all the best of luck on his loan move!

In other news, International director details why he knew Carl Starfelt was going to be a success at Celtic.