Celtic pushing to sign “creative” £5m star

That is set to be simply the beginning of an inflow of Celtic signings this summer time.

On Friday, Benjamin Nygren was unveiled as a Celtic participant, arriving from Nordsjælland for a reported payment of £1.3m.

He’s the Hoops’ third recruit of the summer time thus far, after Kieran Tierney and Ross Doohan, however many extra will observe, with Brendan Rodgers truly pushing to signal one other winger, who may truly be a much bigger expertise than Nygren.

Celtic’s seek for new wingers

It may very well be all change by way of Celtic’s large attackers this summer time.

First, Jota will probably be sidelined till at the very least Christmas, after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament at Tannadice in April.

Meantime, Nicolas Kühn appears prone to go away the membership throughout this window, on condition that RB Leipzig and Como are each presently battling for his signature, with stories outlining that the German is obtainable for round £15m.

So, the arrival of Nygren alone is unlikely to be sufficient, therefore why, in response to a report by Dutch outlet Gazet van Antwerpen, by way of the Each day File, Celtic’s ‘major focus’ is Michel-Ange Balikwisha of Royal Antwerp.

They declare that the Belgian membership have ‘lowered their asking worth’ from round £5m to round £4.5m, with Antwerp ‘in want of a monetary increase’.

The 24-year-old has only one yr remaining on his contract at Bosuilstadion, whereas the Reds additionally didn’t qualify for Europe subsequent season, defeated 2-1 in a play-off by Royal Charleroi again in Could, leaving them removed from in a powerful negotiating place.

So, might Balikwisha turn into the eighth Belgian to play for Celtic, becoming a member of present midfielder Arne Engels, whereas following within the footsteps of the likes of Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo, Charly Musonda, Dedryck Boyata, Jason Denayer and Joos Valgaeren?

How Michel-Ange Balikwisha would enhance Celtic

Balikwisha has truly simply endured a reasonably depressing yr or so on account of harm, first requiring knee surgical procedure in January 2024, which truly scuppered his potential transfer to Glasgow again then, earlier than seeing a miserly 149 minutes of motion this season, earlier than 9 March, on account of a thigh concern.

However, he did begin every of Antwerp’s ultimate ten Jupiler Professional League fixtures to finish the marketing campaign, scoring 4 targets, and has been a pivotal determine for the Reds previously.

Again in 2022/23, simply 21 on the time, Balikwisha scored ten targets in all competitions as Antwerp received their first Belgian top-flight title since 1957, additionally choosing up the Coupe de Belgique, the teen on course through the ultimate victory over Mechelen, earlier than netting once more towards the identical opposition within the Supercoupe de Belgique victory just a few months later.

On prime of this, Antwerp then certified for the Champions League group levels for the very first time too, with Balikwisha bagging the clincher through the play-off spherical victory over AEK Athens, earlier than additionally scoring when Shakhtar Donetsk visited through the group part themselves.

So, it’s clear that the Belgian large attacker possesses loads of high-level expertise, however let’s assess how he compares to, potential, future teammate Nygren.

As already alluded to, the season earlier than final was used for Balikwisha’s statistics, on condition that he barely featured throughout the newest marketing campaign on account of harm.

What the desk outlines is that these two wingers are literally, stylistically, very totally different, with Nygren way more of a aim risk, therefore why he scored extra targets and registered the next variety of his photographs on course.

Balikwisha, however, is a creator from large, accumulating extra assists and massive probabilities created, in addition to an exponentially larger variety of crosses, which is presumably essentially the most telling statistic.

Analyst Will Glavin agrees with this, describing the Belgian as “inventive, direct​​​​​​​ and technically sharp”, whereas Jacek Kulig of Soccer Expertise Scout notes that he operates finest as an “inside ahead”, highlighting his “tempo, dribbling and ending” as his strengths.

Elsewhere, analyst Ben Mattinson labels him “two-footed” and “able to beating a defender both approach”.

Thus, it’s clear that Balikwisha is a high-quality expertise that Celtic ought to do every thing of their energy to safe this summer time.

When in comparison with Nygren, he’s confirmed at Jupiler Professional League degree which, in response to International Soccer Rankings, is the eighth-strongest division on the earth, whereas the Danish Superligaen is somewhat bit decrease at thirteenth.

Equally, the Belgian boasts Champions League expertise, one thing Nygren doesn’t possess, having performed within the Convention League, however no increased by way of UEFA membership competitions.

Thus, health allowing after all, this all suggests Balikwisha can be extra prone to are available and have an instantaneous influence.

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