Vinicius Souza is someone Celtic have been heavily linked with in recent times. The Brazilian midfielder is currently with Belgian second division side, Lommel SK, but spent the previous season out on loan with top flight club, KV Mechelen, where he was able to impress immensely and appears to have caught the eyes of teams all around Europe.
On the other hand, Celtic are in need of a defensive midfielder this summer. Scott Brown left the club last summer and then, Nir Bitton would also bring the curtain down on his nearly decade-long Parkhead career at the end of last season.
The club do have options in the department in the form of Ismaila Soro, James McCarthy and Yosuke Ideguchi, but none of them have been able to impress under the management of Ange Postecoglou till now and do not seem like reliable options going into a campaign where they have Champions League group stage football as well as the Premiership title to defend. There seems to be some good news for Celtic in the chase for Souza though.
As reported by Sporx (via Daily Record), it’s now a straight race between Celtic and Turkish side Fenerbahce for the services of Souza.
Celtic handed boost in the race to sign Souza this summer
Not too long ago, it had looked like the competition for Souza’s signature was going to be very tough but now, it looks like Celtic will only have to compete wit Fenerbahce.
It remains to be seen how things unfold over the coming weeks and months, but if Celtic are able to sign Souza, it would be considered as a massive boost on the part of the club.
The Brazilian midfielder has been in terrific form in recent times. But at this point of time, a loan move might be more likely than a permanent one, since the Hoops have already shelled out significant transfer fees this summer on signing Cameron Carter-Vickers, Jota, Alexandro Bernabei and Daizen Maeda.