Fabrizio Romano has tweeted that Carl Stafelt’s transfer to Celta Vigo will go through today.
On Saturday the Italian transfer specialist named the La Liga side as the club that were in talks with Celtic over the transfer of their defender.
After a couple of weeks of speculation Starfelt’s exit became more factual on Saturday when he was left out of the Celtic side to take on Ross County with Brendan Rodgers explaining that he expected the defender to leave.
It seems that the fee to Vigo will be similar to the £4m that Celtic paid Rubin Kazan for the Swedish internationalist two years ago.
Deal sealed. Carl Starfelt joins Celta on four year contract, clubs signing all the documents today 🔵🇸🇪 #transfers https://t.co/IKfyoIl5uz
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 9, 2023
Of more interest to Celtic fans is the prospect of Gustaf Lagerbielke coming in as a replacement from Elfsborg.
News broke late on Monday night from Swedish publisher Expressen that Celtic were in talks over a £3m move for the 23-year-old defender who has impressed for the Swedish league leaders.
On Saturday Rodgers mentioned the need to bring in a replacement for Starfelt, having already signed Maik Nawrocki from Legia Warsaw the interest in Lagerbielke suggests that Celtic are serious about beefing up their squad rather than hoping that one favoured partnership will stay fit and available.
Starfelt formed a very effective defensive partnership with Cameron Carter-Vickers but although the former Spurs defender was the younger of the duo he was clearly the dominant force in the Celtic defence.
With Carter-Vickers now back at full fitness and one £4m defender signed up it seems that Celtic are confident enough to sanction the sale of Starfelt with three weeks left to run in the transfer window.
If the deal for Lagerbiekle is completed it will likely lead to the departure of Stephen Welsh or Liam Scales with both defenders unable to make it onto the substitute bench against Ross County.
Being fourth choice central defender in their early/mid twenties isn’t an appealing prospect, especially when there are clubs willing to offer a genuine chance of first team football.
With Scales being naturally left footed Rodgers may want to hold on to the former Shamrock Rovers man while Welsh ticks a box as a club developed player for UEFA competitions.
While it would have been preferred to get these deals done ahead of the SPFL opener, ideally in time for pre-season training there are clearly a lot of moving parts in every deal.
Signing Nawrocki allowed talks with Celta to be stepped up, with that deal imminent Celtic made their move to bring in Lagerbiekle who is in mid-season in the Swedish season with Elfsborg currently in top place.
The Swedish side won’t be in any hurry to sell a key player but a fee of £3m and a massive pay rise for the player is a difficult combination to resist.
Brendan Rodgers is unlikely to comment on any transfer activities before he hosts his media duties on Friday to preview Sunday’s match at Aberdeen, who have made known their interest in signing Scales, on loan or permanently.
