Has the Celtic door closed on Michel-Ange Balikwisha?

According to the agent of Michel-Ange Balikwisha, no discussions are underway over a move to Celtic.

Obviously when the Daily Record are involved readers are entitled to be sceptical but now and then the Glasgow based publisher provides enough detail to think that the story has substance.

At this time of year it is the easiest thing in the world to pick up a foreign report, stick it through Google Translate and come out with the answer that you are looking for.

Last week one report on Romanian website I AM SPORT claimed that Celtic had made an offer to sign Louis Munteanu, from that dozens of reports and follow-ups were created with the striker transformed into a key Celtic target.

It could well have been a nod from the club, an agent or a little imagination from the reporter that brought Celtic to the story with the player seems close to joining a still to be named French club.

Balikwisha has been linked with Celtic for over a year, Stephen McGowan then of the Daily Mail was first on the scene but last season injuries twice killed off that prospect.

With Nicolas Kuhn sold, Luis Palma loaned out and Marco Tilio expected to join Rapid Vienna Celtic are short on numbers and quality on the wing. You can add in Jota’s long term injury to that equation.

That would all suggest a bit of urgency towards signing a winger with Balikwisha the name most linked with Celtic.

Marc Overmars and the financial issues at Royal Antwerp have been picked up on but in the absence of any real developments the Record has tried an old fashioned approach, the direct one and publishing the reaction.

However, the player’s representative Jibril Rekkab insists that while the Belgian is not against the idea of a move to Celtic – but talks have yet to take place.

He told Record Sport: “Michel-Ange is not closed to the idea of joining Celtic, but the club would still have to come forward. No discussions are underway.”

That seems fairly definite, the agent is named with his comments most certainly on the record.

Going to the media isn’t the sort of negotiations that Celtic encourage, it works at other clubs but Celtic prefer silence rather than dealing with agents that like to see their names appear in print.

Brendan Rodgers will probably host a media conference on Wednesday to look ahead to Thursday’s match in the Como Cup against Ajax.

Unless there is a late addition to the squad it looks like Daizen Maeda, James Forrest and Yang Hynu-jun will be the only wingers involved, after them Adam Montgomery is probably next in line.

Should anything happen to Maeda the consequences are unthinkable, Celtic have one left-sided winger at the moment but four strikers in Adam Idah, Shin Yamada, Johnny Kenny and Callum Osmond.

Rodgers has repeated his plea to have the lost goals of Kyogo Furuhashi and Kuhn replaced, so far Michael Nicholson has smiled, looked the other way and ignored the pleas of his highly successful manager.

Competitive football is less than two weeks away, Champions League qualifiers get underway in less than a month but if Celtic aren’t discussing Balikwisha with his agent it looks like the frustrations of Rodgers are set to continue.

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