Transfer Round-up – Ajer to Norwich looms, Vušković, Hickey and PEC Zwolle defender Paal latest

Norwich City seem to the first of Kris Ajer’s suitors to blink amid Celtic intransigence towards their hopes of picking up the Norwegian central defender for. bargain basement price. Celtic have an agreement with the player to allow him to leave this summer provided an acceptable bid is received and Norwich apparently are set to be the first to enter proper negotiation territory with Dom McKay, just as Ajer prepares to return to Celtic to see what’s holding up his transfer. Hopefully this one will progress and remember as we pointed out earlier this morning Norwegian side IK Start who sold Kris Ajer to Celtic for £500k back in 2016, also are entitled to a 10% sell-on fee from this deal.

Presumably Celtic will be adding a similar sell-on clause to any deal with Norwich as Ajer might just attract further interest after a successful season on two with the Premier League new-boys.

The £3.5m Celtic bid for Bolonga’s Aaron Hickey has been widely reported over the weekend after the story was broken in the Italian press. Celtic’s interest in re-signing their former Academy player is well known and you’ll recall former Hearts manager Craig Levein revealing that Celtic made numerous bids to re-sign the player from Hearts before the Celtic supporting left back opted for a spell in Italian football.

Local media source Sportske reported last night that Celtic target Mario Vušković was omitted from Hadjuk Split’s friendly match because he was “‘preparing’ for a transfer to Celtic”. Celtic appeared to have bid for the 19 year old central defender a few months back so is clearly on the radar as a possibility.

PEC Zwolle defender Kenneth Paal fancies a move to England but is also flattered to have been linked to Celtic. His best English option appears to be Barnsley so maybe the left back will be happy with that rather than heading to Celtic Park?

“It’s such a big club, with such a history, that’s always nice to hear. “That just shows that you’re doing a good job,” he told Dutch media site De Stentor.

The player clearly is eyeing a move to the English Championship: “I’ve always said that. That’s where I get the most out of my game. The Championship, the second tier in England, is a great competition. I would like to experience that one day.

“I’m sure a lot of Premier League clubs would have a hard time there. That’s a really nice competition. I would like to experience that.

“As it stands now, I will still be a PEC player next season. I’m just working on PEC and just trying to stay as focussed as possible” he added.

About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

3 Comments

  1. Red Scotland on

    The third kit is disgusting. And doesn’t come sponsorless. Waste of time. Keep it.

  2. Ajir won’t be treated badly by supporters but will be treated differently so if celtic get a good price that’s the way our club work and it works is something we have to realise clubs don’t want our not so good but our top youngster but it great deal for celtic and supporters have to be happy we can maybe buy two or three young players that will improve the side