Celtic confirm Lagerbielke exit, as loan deal with FC Twente goes through

Celtic this morning confirmed that Swedish defender Gustaf Lagerbielke has joined Dutch side FC Twente on a season-long loan, with no option to buy included in the deal…

Gustaf joined Celtic for £3m last summer from IF Elfsborg and arrived at Celtic essentially as a replacement for his fellow countryman Carl Starfelt who had left Celtic to sign for Spanish side Celta Vigo.

Lagerbielke makes the Sweden squads and was named the Allsvenskan defender of the year in the season before his move to Celtic, where he signed a five year contract.

Having started at Ibrox in the 1-0 win for Celtic in early September 2023, Lagerbielke was shown a red card in Celtic’s opening game defeat in Rotterdam against Feyernoord before falling out of favour with Brendan Rodgers. He did return for the final game in Champions League, again against the Dutch Champions, and actually scored the winner at Celtic Park last December.

A loan move to Italian side Lecce looked like going through in the January window, but Celtic pulled the plug on that at the eleventh hour amid an injury crisis. However Lagerbielke wasn’t needed as Celtic secured a league and Scottish Cup double.

The rather surprising emergence of Liam Scales as a starting central defender for Brendan Rodgers certainly reduced Lagerbielke, and indeed Nawrocki’s chances and the Polish defender could also be loaned out in this window.

Hopefully Lagerbielke can regain his mojo at FC Twente and earn himself a permanent transfer next summer. It just hasn’t worked out for him at Celtic. Best of luck to the Bhoy.