Celtic are running out of time to conclude business this month despite expectation that movement will occur in both directions at Parkhead.
Brendan Rodgers will be keen to get fringe men off the books to receive regular minutes elsewhere, thus freeing up wage expenditure to put towards potential incomings.
Yosuke Ideguchi, Hyeokkyu Kwon and Adam Montgomery have all departed the club this month and darted off to various destinations; nevertheless, there hasn’t been a major amount of confirmed outgoings aside from the trio in Glasgow’s east end.
West Bromwich Albion are said to be waiting on being given the green light to press ahead in their efforts to bring Republic of Ireland international Mikey Johnston to the Hawthorns on loan.
Benjamin Siegrist, Yuki Kobayashi, Alexandro Bernabei and James McCarthy could also be allowed to depart if the correct opportunity arises in the window’s final days [Football Scotland].
Marco Tilio may also head elsewhere as the Hoops enact a mini-squad cull amid some questionable recruitment decisions over the past couple of years.
Gustaf Lagerbielke is now close to leaving Celtic
Gustaf Lagerbielke arrived at Celtic last year for a fee in the region of £3 million; however, he has featured just nine times under Rodgers in all competitions, scoring once against Feyenoord in the Champions League.
Seemingly frozen out at the club, the Sweden international is now close to sealing a departure to Italian outfit Lecce on an initial loan deal with an option-to-buy clause inserted, which could enable him to leave permanently in the summer.
Taking to social media platform X, Sky Sports reporter Anthony Joseph explained the permutations of what is now a seemingly imminent transfer.
Celtic’s confusing recruitment strategy
Granted, Celtic do their shopping in a market where they need to gamble on potential from time to time, meaning some players identified may fail to make the cut for whatever reason.
Nevertheless, the hit rate of successful signings in the past 12 months is alarmingly poor, considering the relative resources available to the Scottish Premiership holders.
In nearly three transfer windows, you could argue only Alistair Johnston, Luis Palma, and potentially Paulo Bernardo and Maik Nawrocki, given time, have served to improve the quality of the starting line-up.
Of course, some of the others may develop over time into Celtic players; however, there is reason for supporters to hold concern surrounding the recruitment process at Parkhead.
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