According to a report from Pete O’Rourke, Celtic are closely monitoring Plymouth Argyle striker Lorent Tolaj as they assess their options ahead of what is expected to be a substantial summer transfer window. The Glasgow club are among several sides keeping tabs on the 24-year-old Swiss forward, with Celtic understood to be treating the addition of a new striker as one of their primary objectives for the coming window.
Celtic Eye Plymouth Argyle’s Lorent Tolaj Ahead of Major Summer Rebuild
Tolaj joined Plymouth in the summer, making a move from Port Vale after firing them to promotion from EFL League Two last season. Plymouth spent approximately £1.2 million to bring him to Home Park, and he has since more than repaid that investment. Tolaj has scored 14 goals in 26 matches in the EFL League One 2025-26 season, averaging 0.56 goals per 90 minutes, which places him ninth among all League One players who have appeared in at least three matches.
The numbers alone do not tell the full story of how quickly he has risen through the English football pyramid. He joined Aldershot Town in July 2023 and scored 25 goals in the 2023-24 season, winning the National League Player of the Month award for January 2024, before being sold to Port Vale in June 2024, where he was their top scorer as the club won promotion out of League Two.
The report notes that despite Celtic’s interest, Plymouth are determined to retain Tolaj, who signed a contract at Plymouth that runs until 30 June 2029. That long-term commitment from Plymouth signals that prising him away will not come cheap, nor easily.
Would Tolaj Actually Solve Celtic’s Most Pressing Problem Right Now?
Celtic’s interest in Tolaj raises more questions about the club’s overall direction than it does about the player himself. Celtic might be set for a substantial overhaul when they appoint their next permanent manager in the summer, with an expectation among the hierarchy at Celtic Park that the new incumbent will want to reshape the squad considerably. The manager search has its own complications.
Celtic have identified Robbie Keane as their primary candidate to take permanent charge at Parkhead this summer, following a report by The Guardian’s Ewan Murray on 12 March 2026. Adam Idah departed for Championship side Swansea City last summer, leaving a genuine void at centre-forward that interim manager Martin O’Neill has patched rather than properly resolved through a January loan addition.
Tolaj, on paper, fits a clear profile. He is a penalty-box finisher with outstanding numbers across three consecutive seasons at rising levels of English football. His non-penalty expected goals per 90 sit in the top 95th percentile of all League One players, and he has contributed 18 goal involvements across the season. He is a former Switzerland Under-19 international with four caps and eight goals at the youth level, which points to the technical foundation being there for a step up in class.
However, the honest question Celtic’s recruitment team must answer is whether League One production translates to a club potentially entering the Champions League qualifying rounds. The jump from League One to the Scottish Premiership is one several players have made successfully, but a club with Celtic’s ambitions arguably need players who have already proven themselves at a higher level, or are so young and unformed that the ceiling is clearly elite.
At 24, Tolaj does not fit either of those profiles neatly. He is not a rough-edged 20-year-old with untapped potential, nor is he a tested European performer.
Celtic are simultaneously running the rule over Tolaj and Plymouth teammate Aribim Pepple, with the duo attracting interest from Europe and beyond, and separately, Celtic are also pursuing Kasper Hogh of Bodo/Glimt, who has scored six goals and registered three assists in 13 Champions League appearances this season.
Hogh’s European track record changes the risk calculation entirely compared to Tolaj’s. Given that Celtic face a summer where the incoming manager, the squad shape, and the entire football structure are all being rebuilt at once, bringing in a striker who has already operated at a high European level would reduce the margin for error considerably.
Tolaj’s numbers are excellent, and his upward trajectory is real, but Celtic should treat him as a secondary option behind players already tested at that standard. Plymouth’s insistence on a long contract and their obvious reluctance to sell means the fee would likely outweigh what Celtic can reasonably justify at this stage of his career.
The interest reflects sensible due diligence. Acting on it, though, should depend entirely on who the new manager is and what system he intends to build; signing a striker before the head coach is confirmed is exactly the kind of muddled sequencing that has created unnecessary problems for Celtic in recent windows.
