Celtic’s deal for Carl Starfelt is done but the club are unsure when the player will travel from Russia to Glasgow. According to the Daily Record and Fabrizio Romano, Celtic have completed a deal for the player with the medical occurring in Moscow last week. However, the club are yet to formally announce the player due to an apparent delay in travel.
Carl Starfelt will join Celtic on a permanent deal from Rubin Kazan, the deal is done and confirmed. No doubt. €5m fee for the centre back. ⚪️🟢 #Celtic
It’s gonna take some days for the official announcement to complete the process – but it’s done. 🏴🤝 https://t.co/8AK8dFaMlZ
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 17, 2021
The 26-year-old is said to have agreed a long-term deal but is yet to receive a visa that will entitle him to travel to Scotland and sign for the club. Coupled with COVID-19, this means that Celtic may miss him for upcoming European fixtures where defensive recruits are already thin on the ground.
Russia remains on the UK’s Amber list meaning that anyone who has not been double vaccinated must isolate for ten days. This red tape has been a bugbear of manager Ange Postecoglou as he looks to make his team competitive ahead of the new season. The Australian has a lot of work to do and will hope for quality across the backline as soon as possible.
Postecoglou has added Liel Abada (LW), Osaze Urhoghide (CB) and Kyogo Furuhashi (ST) with Starfelt (CB) close to being announced. The club have also been linked with Kristijan Lovric (RW) from HNK Gorica for £5m. Given the club have just Tony Ralston and Lee O’Connor going into the vital European qualifiers, Celtic need to sign at least one right-back that is first team quality.
