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Celtic

Celtic battles Rangers for perfect Matt O’Riley replacement; player camp already has a choice

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.

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.

Brekalo Would Add Perfect Blend of Quality and Nous

The winger has done it all and would be an inspired addition

Celtic already boast Luis Palma, Nicolas Kuhn, Yang Hyun-jun and Daizen Maeda in the wide areas with Kuhn especially impressing so far this season – whilst James Forrest continues his spell at Parkhead after making his debut 15 years ago.

Competition for places is rife but there could be room for a mixture of experience and quality – and Brekalo would bring that in abundance.

Having had a blistering start to his career, Brekalo has fallen off the beaten track in recent years and that included a loan spell to Croatian outfit Hajduk Split in January, but he showed his class back in his home nation – and with 35 caps for Croatia at the age of just 26, there is evidently a player in there somewhere with Europa League experience to boot.

 

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