Gustaf Lagerbielke has spoken of his delight at being linked with a move to Celtic.
Late on Monday night Swedish publisher Expressen revealed that a £3m fee had been discussed with Elfsborg over their central defender.
Carl Starfelt’s expected move to Celta Vigo has created the need for Celtic to add another central defender with one Swede being lined up to replace another.
With three weeks left in the transfer window a little bit of urgency is being applied to dealing with Lagerbielke happy to discuss the prospect of a move to Boras Tidning:
It’s an honour. It’s very fun first of all. It’s fun when such a big club shows interest. I think all players in the Allsvenskan want to go abroad at some point and test their wings.
A big club with so many fans and who played in the Champions League and won titles. It is clear that every player dreams of it. It is an honour to receive that interest.
Brendan Rodgers was more reluctant to discuss Lagerbielke when he was on media duty today, confirming that discussions are ongoing without going into specifics over names or even positions.
Signing Maik Nawrocki from Legia Warsaw ahead of news about Starfelt firming up has taken some of the pressure off Celtic with the Pole playing against Athletic Bilbao and Ross County.
Aberdeen on Sunday will be a tough test of Celtic under Rodgers but the return from a three month absence of Cameron Carter-Vickers is a priceless boost to the hoops defence which is still without Alistair Johnston who has missed the entire pre-season programme.
Despite being three years younger than Starfelt, Carter-Vickers was very much the senior partner in central defence with his absence noted in the final stretch of the season with Celtic losing nine goals in a three game spell.
It took six days from news of interest in Nawrocki breaking for the deal to be completed, a similar timescale could see Lagerbiekle watching his new team-mates in action against Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Sunday..
Throughout Ange Postecoglou’s two seasons in charge of Celtic there was never any doubt that the pairing of Starfelt and Carter-Vickers was the preferred partnership in central defence
Should the deal for Lagerbielke go through it would give Rodgers a bit of flexibility and cover with three central defenders for two positions.
Ideally there will be a fourth option which is likely to come from Stephen Welsh or Liam Scales who were both heavily involved in the pre-season friendlies, playing together for an hour against Wolves in Dublin.
Scales has the advantage of being naturally left-sided while Welsh would fill one of the four home grown slots needed by UEFA in Rodgers’ 25 man squad.
After doing the pre-match media duties today it is unlikely that there will be any further comment out of Celtic this week unless it is to announce a new signing.
MEANWHILE
Once again BBC Scotland weren’t on the invite list.
Clubs are obliged by the SPFL to provide a media conference ahead of matches, almost all clubs do so on a Friday although there is a tendency to bring it forward to a Thursday to ensure that Friday is left clear of distractions to prepare for the Saturday match.
This weekend Celtic play on Sunday but invited the media, minus BBC Scotland, into Lennoxtown today to previews a match some distance away.
Between today’s media conference and kick-off at Pittodrie there are three full days for players to get injured in training, bought or sold.
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