Celtic made contact with Rubin Kazan about signing Filip Uremovic this summer, The Scottish Sun reports.
The paper are carrying quotes from Rubin sporting director Oleg Yarovinsky, who said: “Celtic and CSKA Moscow both came to us and asked about signing Filip.
“We never got as far as discussing the transfer fee, but we were in contact with both clubs.
“I am very confident he is going to be a top defender one day at a very big club and it is important for him to make the right move eventually.
“But for now, Filip is not for sale.”
It comes after the player himself admitted the Bhoys were keen on him back in 2019 (Championat), though we apparently diverted interest towards Christopher Jullien instead.
That didn’t turn out too badly.
However, we seem to have kept an eye on the player, who won his first cap for Croatia earlier this month in a UEFA Nations League encounter against France.
As Celtic enter a tricky closing couple of weeks to the transfer window, with the future of players such as Kristoffer Ajer up in the air, it’s important we rely on pre-pandemic scouting and targets – players who we have already identified as made of the right stuff.
We have signed Shane Duffy already this year but he could be seen as a replacement for Jozo Simunovic and if another defender departs, we’ll need someone else in the door.
Although Rubin are adamant that Uremovic is not for sale, it is interesting we have been in contact.
He has healthy experience for a 23 year old and has 63 appearances in Russia.
Could he be on the names we turn to if there’s a big departure before October 5th?
Considering we’ve already made contact about the player twice, in successive years, I wouldn’t rule it out.
In other news, we’ve been speaking to Jackie McNamara about his time working under Celtic legend Tommy Burns.
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