Union Berlin are being credited with an interest in Maik Nawrocki.
Over the last 24 hours there has been extensive reports from Poland linking Celtic with a move for the Legia Warsaw defender who has been left out of tonight’s match at home to LSK Lodz.
Nawrocki was born and brought up in Bremen, moving to Legia from Werder two years ago with the German side due a slice of any future transfer fee. With two years to go on his Legia contract the Polish side are under no pressure to sell during the current transfer window.
The extent of the interest from Union Berlin isn’t known but a return to his birth country for a Champions League club is a powerful combination with former team-mate Josip Juranovic already in place in the German capital.
Sport90.de reports:
1. FC Union Berlin is upgrading its squad for its first participation in the premier class . The Irons have now considered Maik Nawrocki from the top Polish club Legia Warsaw for defence . A Bundesliga rival wants to challenge the FCU for the central defender with a Bremen past. FC Augsburg should also be interested in Nawrocki. Just like well-known clubs from abroad.
After 1. FC Union secured the services of midfielder Lucas Tousart from city rivals Hertha BSC , the Köpenickers now want to add personnel to the defence. In this regard, interesting Union Berlin transfer rumours are spilling over from Poland.
Because according to the information from the journalist Tomasz Wlodarczyk, Maik Nawrocki is on the list at Union Berlin . The central defender would be the reinforcement that FCU coach Urs Fischer still wants for the centre of defence. The 22-year-old is currently still under contract with Legia Warsaw , where his working paper is limited to 2025.
If the Union Berlin interest is serious it will be difficult for Celtic to compete with but contact has almost certainly been made with the defender’s agent to outline Brendan Rodgers’ plans.
Over his two years in charge of Celtic Ange Postecoglou rarely looked beyond the partnership of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt. While other positions and players were rotated the central defensive pairing tended to play the full 90 minutes whenever available.
Carter-Vickers hasn’t played since e put in a heroic performance at Hampden in the Scottish Cup semi-final victory at the end of April.
On its own it was an outstanding performance, magnified after the final whistle when Postecoglou revealed that the season was over for his star defender who would undergo knee surgery within days of his heroics at Hampden.
Yuki Kobayashi came into the side, had a comfortable outing at Tynecastle as the SPFL title was clinched but things were about to go downhill for the January signing.
A nervy performance at Ibrox was ceased upon by the home side although no-one in the Celtic defence was close to pass marks in the 3-0 defeat.
Kobayashi was on the bench for the 2-2 draw with St Mirren but was back in the Starting XI for the 4-2 defeat at Hibs, his last competitive appearance.
Celtic365 understands that Brendan Rodgers has already decided that the former Vissel Kobe defender won’t be part of his plans with clubs in the J-League circulated about his availability.
Bringing in at least one more central defender, possibly two is now a matter of urgency but there is now serious competition to Celtic’s hopes of signing Nawrocki.
On Saturday Celtic play Gamba Osaka in the second match of their trip to Japan, with the squad returning to Scotland on Monday Rodgers will be hoping that the recruitment process starts producing first team ready players.
According to reports from South Korea moves to sign Yang Hyun-jun and Kwon Hyeok-kyu are at an advanced stage.
