Celtic are yet to make their first signing of the summer transfer window, which officially opened for business last month, but they are reportedly putting in plenty of work behind the scenes.
According to Football Insider, the Scottish powerhouses are getting close to acquiring Norwich City center-forward Adam Idah on a long-term contract.
After the Canaries rejected their £4 million deal, the newspaper reports that the Hoops are planning to submit a second offer to sign the Ireland international, with a potential price tag of £6 million.
Idah was on loan from the Championship team for the second half of the previous season. He made 15 appearances in the Scottish Premiership, starting just five of them, and returned with eight goals and two assists.
The player and the team are willing to get a transfer across the finish line, according to a report from Football Insider. The Bhoys are now hoping to sign him to a permanent contract.
To replace Joe Hart, the team also needs a new custodian, and the Premiership winners are apparently planning to make a bid for a stopper.
Celtic preparing bid for £8m+ star
According to the Daily Record, the Scottish giants ‘will’ make another bid to sign Sparta Prague number one Peter Vindahl Jensen this summer.
The report claims that the 26-year-old colossus is their first-choice signing to replace Hart ahead of the 2024/25 campaign, having compiled a shortlist of targets to pick from.
It states that the Hoops have been trying to snap up the Danish titan for a number of weeks but it has been a difficult deal to get done as the Czechia giants are not eager to cash in on him.
The reported asking price of Sparta Prague for their star custodian is more than £8 million, and it’s unclear how much Celtic is planning to offer.
The article adds that the Premiership champions think they can finalise a deal for Jensen before the end of the summer transfer season, supporting the club’s increasing pursuit of signing Idah from Norwich.
Now, it will be intriguing to see if Celtic’s recent transfer is sufficient to persuade Sparta Prague to let go of the custodian, since he may be a significant improvement over Hart in goal.
Joe Hart’s time with Celtic in numbers
The former England international was brought to Parkhead by Ange Postecoglou in the summer of 2021, signing on a permanent deal from Tottenham Hotspur.
A veteran shot-stopper, the concern at the time may have been that his best years were behind him and that it could have been treated as one last payday.
Hart, the team’s top player for three seasons and three Premiership crowns, had 64 clean sheets in 154 games across all competitions, so that was far from the case.
The 37-year-old colossus started 37 of the team’s 38 games in the 2023–24 Premiership season, keeping 14 clean sheets en route to a third consecutive division championship while he was in Glasgow.
The seasoned player, however, wasn’t ideal for the Hoops because of his lacklustre performances in Europe, especially during the previous season’s Champions League.
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