Celtic have had a shaky start to the season after winning the double treble, and all doesn’t seem hunky dory at the Park Head. Losing Moussa Dembele on the last day of the transfer window was a massive blow for the Hoops as it didn’t give Rodgers any chance to look for his replacement. However, the Celtic scouts were recently present to witness the Champions League tie between Red Star Belgrade and Napoli, and there is speculation doing the rounds that the Bhoys were tracking Serbian club’s striker Richmond Boakye.
It is likely that the Celtic scouts were after Red Star players as Napoli’s players are likely to be out of bounds for Celtic’s budget. The club could be in for a striker in the January transfer window as Rodgers only has Leigh Griffiths and Odsonne Edouard at his disposal.
Edouard is Celtic’s record signing, but the striker has now failed to find the back of the net in the last seven games. These must be worrying signs for Rodgers as his side is already 6 points adrift of the top of the table. The Ghanaian striker joined the Serbian outfit in 2017 on loan, and later his move was made permanent. However, he was sold just after a year to Chinese club Jiangsu Suning for €5.5m.
Though in six months he was again sold back to the Serbian club for a lucrative €1.5m price. In his overall spell in Serbia, the 25-year-old has managed a healthy tally of 42 goals and seven assists in 51 appearances. The striker has started this season brightly as he has netted three times in two games along with providing one assist.
The forward is known for his physicality and pace, and quite a few defenders in the Scottish premiership would find him tough to handle. Boakye has previously generated interest from various Premier League clubs and even last year Celtic were monitoring his situation. Big clubs like Chelsea were also said to be interested in him last year as the striker earlier had a brief spell with Juventus when Antonio Conte was their manager.
The Hoops might have to move in quick in the transfer market as recently Southampton have been interested in him. His form for the past year has been fantastic, and after losing Dembele, signing a striker in January should be at the top of the shopping list for Rodgers and Co. The transfer money also shouldn’t be too much of a big issue as the club made close to £20m by selling Dembele to Lyon in the summer. The Ghanaian has all the tools to his game to be a massive success in Rodgers’ setup.
