Having sold Matt O’Riley to Brighton for a club-record fee, there is a huge pot of money available to bring in more players for Celtic and that could see Fiorentina winger Josip Brekalo join on a loan deal to boost their attacking ranks.
Celtic announced their fifth signing of the summer transfer window on Wednesday morning, with young Barcelona left-back Alex Valle jetting in on a season-long loan from the La Liga giants to offer competition for Greg Taylor on the flanks in defence.
The Hoops have added Valle alongside securing permanent deals for Adam Idah and Paulo Bernardo following their successful loan spells last year – and with Kasper Schmeichel joining with Viljami Sinisalo between the sticks, recruitment has been decent at Parkhead in Brendan Rodgers’ second summer of his second spell at the Parkhead helm.
However, they have finally lost star man O’Riley following months of talks surrounding his exit, and that represents a huge pot of money to back Rodgers in the final few days of the window. Brekalo has been linked, and with the deadline ticking down, reports from Italy suggest that the Hoops could make a move for the former Bundesliga star.
Josip Brekalo on Celtic’s Radar
The winger has also been linked with bitter rivals Rangers
The report by Corriere Fiorentino states that Celtic ‘like’ Brekalo, carrying an interest in the winger as they look for more recruitments to come into the side before Friday’s deadline – though there is a lingering threat that other Serie A clubs are also keen on his signature.
| Josip Brekalo’s Serie A statistics – Fiorentina squad ranking, 2023/24 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Stats | Output | Squad rank |
| Appearances | 11 | 21st |
| Shots Per Game | 0.8 | =11th |
| Dribbles Per Game | 0.7 | =8th |
| Crosses Per Game | 0.4 | =7th |
| Match rating | 6.46 | 19th |
The Croatian is likely to depart Fiorentina in the coming days, with the club using the potential money garnered for his services to register some incomings of their own.
Clubs in the Italian top-flight have made loan offers for Brekalo, who has been described as a “baller”, and that has pushed Celtic to the back of the suspected queue as they have so far failed to come forward with a concrete approach.
He would be available for Rodgers’ men on a temporary deal and the Hoops still have time to make an offer. They could even trump rivals Rangers to his signing, with reports last week suggesting that the Gers were also interested in landing the former Wolfsburg man on a temporary deal – especially having failed to sign Abdallah Sima on a permanent deal alongside Rabbi Matondo and Todd Cantwell being touted with moves away from Ibrox.
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