Gustaf Lagerbielke is reported to be in Glasgow completing his £3m move to Celtic from Elfsborg.
That is the claim of Michael Gannon in the Daily Record as he summed up Celtic’s transfer activity starting with the claim that it was Newcastle that initiated interest in Ryan Fraser.
News of Celtic’s interest in Lagerbielke first surfaced last Monday night when Swedish publisher Expressen went online over advanced talks.
Carl Starfelt completed his move to Celta Vigo on Thursday but there was a surprise twist when Lagerbielke played for Elfsborg away to Hammarby on Sunday.
That was followed by an interview on Swedish TV in which he gave away everything just short of shouting HAIL HAIL over the suggestion that he was about to sign for a major Scottish football club.
Picking up on that late on Monday the Daily Record reports:
The Hoops boss is set to bolster his backline with Swedish star Gustaf Lagerbiekle poised to complete his £3m switch from Elfsborg in the next 48 hours.
The highly-rated 23-year-old headed to Glasgow on Monday where he’s set to undergo a medical with a view to being on board before the weekend’s Viaplay Cup clash at Kilmarnock. Rodgers is keen to replace departed Carl Starfelt and is sweating on the fitness of Cameron Carter-Vickers after the centre back suffered a set back in Sunday’s 3-1 Premiership win at Aberdeen.
After Stephen Welsh and Maik Nawrocki coped with Aberdeen in the second half of Sunday’s match it would seem unlikely that Lagerbielke will go straight into the Celtic side at Kilmarnock.
Lagerbielke will barely know his team-mates after a couple of training sessions let alone Sunday’s opponents.
Welsh will be well aware of Killie’s style of play and has had the misfortune to play on the dreaded Rugby Park surface a couple of times while Nawrocki will be well briefed over what to expect and probably watched Killie winning their first SPFL match of the season.
It would be something of a shock if Carter-Vickers was involved in Sunday’s match after picking up a hamstring injury during the first half of Sunday’s win at Aberdeen.
That game was just his third outing since undergoing knee surgery which brought his season to a halt in April.
Before having knee surgery he was left out of the Celtic side that won 4-1 at Kilmarnock on April 16 with Yuki Kobayashi stepping into to partner Carl Starfelt.
