With Celtic set to face their first competitive fixture next week in the Champions League, securing as many new faces as possible in the previous seven days was huge.
Fortunately, that’s exactly what Ange Postecoglou was able to achieve.
What’s the word?
The Hoops have welcomed a host of new faces to Paradise with Liel Abada and Kyogo Furuhashi joining Liam Shaw and Osaze Urhoghide as fresh signings.
Next on Postecoglou’s agenda appears to be strengthening the defence.
Carl Starfelt is believed to be Kristoffer Ajer’s successor as he heads to Brentford but they’re also targeting a right back.
Who would you prefer at Celtic?
Soppy
Buta
Taking to Twitter on Saturday evening, transfer guru Fabrizio Romano had the following to say about Celtic’s transfer plans:
“Celtic are looking for a new right back after agreement completed to sign Carl Starfelt as centre back from Rubin Kazan. Brandon Soppy is one of the options – talks ongoing also with Royal Antwerp for Portuguese right back Aurélio Buta.”
Brilliant Buta
Although Soppy has bags of potential, Buta would be a great alternative if Celtic found that deal easier to conclude.
The 24-year-old has been on the scene for a while now and has already been linked with a move to British shores.
After being touted with a switch to Wolves back in 2019, Buta was given the an eye-catching review by journalist, Aster Nzeyimana:
“He’s one of the best full-backs in the Belgium league – that’s a widespread opinion.
“In the last two years he’s grown defensively, he has admitted that himself. He’s quite a small player but he’s technically very gifted. We have a history in Belgium of good attacking full-backs and he really fits right in. He’s instrumental to Antwerp.”
Standing at just 5 foot 8, the £3.1m-rated defender is a similar statute and plays in a comparable way to Jeremie Frimpong.
The Dutchman departed in January as he left for Bayer Leverkusen and they’ve not been able to replace him permanently since.
Buta, however, would be a wonderful capture. Last season he completed 1.2 successful challenges per game which was identical to the tally Frimpong achieved in green and white.
Hugging the right-hand side, the Antwerp defender was extremely creative for a player in his position, providing 0.8 key passes a match.
For context, only Frimpong, Greg Taylor and Jonjoe Kenny managed more from a defensive persuasion at Celtic last season.
However, it’s important to bear in mind that Postecoglou’s team will be a side that enjoy lots of possession.
Consequently, Buta’s statistics from an attacking point of view should rise if he switches Belgium for Scotland this summer.
AND in other news, Celtic already have their Ajer successor in rarely-seen 17 y/o with a “massive future”…