At the moment Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic squad is pretty strong all over the pitch, but could a new winger from Barcelona be back on the transfer wish list? The Hoops already have Jota, Daizen Maeda, Liel Abada, Sead Haksabanovic and James Forrest in their ranks. That’s a pretty exciting set of players and decent cover for the flanks.
At first sight it wouldn’t seem likely that another winger is needed. But with careful, planning ahead seemingly a strength of Postecoglou, he’ll be wary of one or more of his existing stars potentially moving away in the near future and must have eyes on alternatives, in case that happens.
Celtic were believed to be interested in Alex Collado of Barcelona last summer. Could they reignite that interest in the future?
Now, as reported by Sport (via HITC), Collado is one of a number of players Barcelona are trying to transfer away this summer.
Barcelona ready to let Celtic-linked player go next summer
Rumours last summer suggested Celtic had made an enquiry regarding a potential move for Collado. But perhaps with Jota signing permanently and a Haksabanovic deal being done, that didn’t lead to anything at the time.
Collado ended up on loan at La Liga side Elche for this season. There he was having an average spell, and has been sidelined lately with an injury.
His numbers there aren’t particularly outstanding, but it’s important to note that Elche have only scored 15 league goals all season and are rooted to the bottom of La Liga with just 9 points and a gap of 11 points to 19th placed Valencia.
It’s perhaps unwise to make judgements on the abilities of an attacking winger based on statistics alone. We’ll have to continue to trust in Postecoglou’s strong record of signings if this one does progress further. For the time being, there are no fresh rumours though.