NEIL LENNON last week dismissed as completely irrelevant the leaked list of transfer targets from early April which resulted in a cleaner and a security guard losing their jobs at Lennoxtown. The Celtic manager pointed out that the names he’s working on at the moment are completely different to those on the leaked list and this morning Stephen McGowan in Daily Mail has perhaps given us the most accurate and up-to-date assessment of the current transfer targets.
McGowan is of course the newspaper journalist who is closest to the action at Celtic, well to the CEO anyway. As a result his stories tend to have a little more credibility that perhaps some of the other stuff that’s out there, the ‘according to reports’ stories favoured by the click-baiters, or even the stab in the dark MUP (Made Up P*sh) £5m big for Scott McKenna which is then picked up by Celtic sites click baiting themselves.
We had heard that Celtic were interested in a player from Rapid Vienna and McGowan confirms this today, revealing the target as their left-back Boli Mbombo, who is rated at around £3million.
Mbombo is, according to McGowan, being seen as a replacement for Kieran Tierney should he be sold.
Certainly the mood music is that this could well happen so brace yourselves folks.
Worryingly the next target is another midfielder – the Ecuador Under-20 star Jose Cifuentes who is apparently a £2.5m target. It’s worrying because he could be a replacement for Callum McGregor, who was also the subject of transfer speculation at the weekend with our former manager interested in bringing him to Leicester.
Can’t he take some of the players he signed for Celtic? One of the Bhoys from E-Tims was suggesting yesterday on social media that both KT and Callum are interested in moving – that’s why the Cifuentes story is worrying.
Update from the ranch. Two want away. Explains why the club haven’t said ” not for sale”.
— Richard McGinley (@Richiestoke) June 23, 2019
Twenty-year-old Cifuentes plays for America de Quito in his homeland and is apparently attracting interest from Manchester City as well as clubs in Germany and Italy.
Neil Lennon’s interest in Nice defender Romain Perraud, who he watched in Paris, seems to be over given the players wage demands, while Kilmarnock’s Greg Taylor remains a possibility but it seems to be Mbombo that’s top of the list.
He is a cousin of Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku and the 23-year-old joined Rapid Vienna from Club Brugge two years ago, but looks likely to be leaving Celtic’s old enemies this summer.
Toulouse player Christopher Jullien remains the top central defender target at around £7million and Danish international right-back Peter Ankersen at £2.5m could also arrive from FC Copenhagen.
David Turnbull should be announced as officially a Celtic player this morning and should make the flight to Austria.
Also, there’s a story brewing that we published late last night – which you may have missed. It’s worth going back and having a read – see HERE.
