Celtic are facing a battle to sign Ko Itakura from Manchester City. The Japanese Internationalist played in the game against Brazil earlier this week and has attracted admirers from the Scottish Champions. The German side is reportedly considering Itakura and Borussia Dortmund’s Dan-Axel Zagadou, who is available on a free transfer.
According to Kicker, Hoffenheim are keen on signing Itakura as well as Zagadou, who will leave Dortmund this summer.
Itakura impressed with Schalke as they gained promotion from Bundesliga.2 at the first time of asking. However, the North-Rhine side declined to take up the €6m option to buy the defender, claiming it to be too pricey. The 25-year-old is entering his final year with Man City and they will be keen to cash in. The Celtic-City link has been strengthened this summer with the arrival of Mark Lawwell.
Ange Postecoglou had targetted the defender, who can also play defensive midfield, last summer before opting to sign Carl Starfelt and Cameron Carter-Vickers. However, with Christopher Jullien’s future in the air, the manager is keen to bring in defensive cover and Itakura could tick the boxes in that regard, as well as covering the versatile role that Nir Bitton had dominated for so long.
Celtic will be looking to sign Carter-Vickers from Spurs as well as another defender with Jullien expected to be allowed to leave. It will be interesting to see whether Celtic can get their business done early. Ironically, in previous seasons, the business was not complete until after the European Qualifiers but with the comfort of the automatic group stages place, Celtic appear committed to get their business done.
