Celtic look to be close to offloading striker Albian Ajeti. The Swiss Internationalist signed in a deal worth £5m from West Ham, the club he joined after a successful spell at FC Basel.
The 25-year-old is one of Celtic’s highest earners and it is clear that he does not feature in Ange Postecoglou’s plans moving forward. As reported by Football Scotland, the Spanish second division team are keen on Ajeti but you would imagine that there are a number of teams looking into his availability – including Basel.
Celtic are nearing the completion of Sead Haksabanovic’s move to the Scottish Champions but it is expected that the focus will be selling Ajeti once that deal is completed.
Hearing there’s been a few bites for Ajeti but nothing concrete yet. https://t.co/2XpiiIA2uI
— Mark Hendry (@mhendry92) August 23, 2022
Ajeti was signed for around £4.95m and the deal equates to £550k per goal, a poor return for a player that offered a lot initially.
🇨🇭 | Albian Ajeti
Spanish side Racing Santander have contacted Celtic regarding the transfer of Albian Ajeti.
The newly promoted Segunda División club are keen on the Swiss international however any deal would be complicated due to other offers he has.
[@RumoreFutbol] pic.twitter.com/pS2wrdUke9
— Everything Celtic (@aboutceltic) August 23, 2022
It was between Ivan Toney and Ajeti and the Swiss striker got the call despite Barry Fry seemingly keen to sell Toney to Celtic. Neil Lennon’s famous eye for a player seemed to have deserted him by the summer of 2020 with Ajeti and Vasilis Barkas costing the best part of £10m and neither providing any significant contribution to the Celtic cause ever since. Both players picked up hefty wage packets too making the hit even harder for the club and more difficult for Ange Postecoglou to sort out the mess.
Barkas has been moved out on loan for a season while Ajeti remains at the club, very much on the outskirts of the manager’s plans for the season ahead. He did get 45 minutes in the opening pre-season match in Austria, playing alongside mostly Celtic B Team players against Austria minnows Wiener Viktoria but looked either disinterested or way off the pace and that will have been noted by the Celtic manager.
Ajeti knows his time at Celtic is up but unless there’s a way out that is financially acceptable to him Celtic will continue to pay the hefty price for the summer 2020 signing. The news that Racing Santander are interested in the player is promising that the club will be able to cut its loses, as they have done today with Christopher Jullien. Although, until a deal is completed, Celtic will not be able to focus on finding a replacement.
