‘Speaking to someone at Antwerp’ – David Friel drops Michel-Ange Balikwisha to Celtic update

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The Michel-Ange Balikwisha to Celtic transfer rumour has been going on for what seems like an age.

The Belgian has been linked to Celtic since July 2024 and despite it being over a year since then, there has been no serious movement on a deal to bring the winger to Parkhead.

Balikwisha is out of contract at the end of this season and Celtic have been told that £5m will be enough to tempt Royal Antwerp to sell.

However, over the last couple of weeks, rumours and updates appear to have cooled as Celtic fans watch and wait to see if Balikwisha will wear the famous green and white Hoops.

And here, journalist David Friel has shared what someone at the Belgian club has told him about a potential deal to take Balikwisha to Celtic.

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Royal Antwerp share what’s holding up a deal to take Michel-Ange Balikwisha to Celtic

Celtic are clearly in need of a winger, and it appears that Balikwisha fits the bill but there is still something snagging the deal.

Friel told The Scottish Sun Sport podcast [10m 40s], “I feel as if I’ve been speaking about Michel-Ange Balikwisha for about 10 years now.

“Look, Celtic have been interested in him in the past. They clearly had an interest early in the window.

“There were a lot of rumours on Thursday that, I’m not sure where it was coming from, I was just getting a lot of texts about it from people saying, ‘I’m hearing this is nearly done blah blah blah’.

“I spoke to someone in Belgium who covers Antwerp who doesn’t think it’s at that stage but wasn’t ruling it out, if you know what I mean.

“He still felt there was a distance between valuations and that can obviously change quickly.”

Michel-Ange Balikwisha is ‘very, very keen’ to come to Celtic

There were suggestions that Celtic were being pushed out of signing Balikwisha as a mystery Ligue 1 club entered the fray.

Not so, as Friel continues, “Something tells me that might happen down the line and I feel as if I’ve said that a million times but it’s just not going away.

“He’s not going anywhere else as well.

“I’m led to believe the player is very, very keen to come to Celtic. I’ve just got a funny feeling come the end of the window, and it might be the final day that Balikwisha will be at Celtic.”

This is a significant update as there have been conflicting Balikwisha reports this summer about a possible move to Celtic.

With just under two weeks left of the transfer window, Celtic fans will know soon enough if a deal to bring the winger to the club was fact or fiction.