Next summer could be a very interesting one for Celtic. Till now, the club have been mostly focused on signing new players under the management of Ange Postecoglou. A number of them have done very well though and have drawn the interest of teams abroad. We have already seen Josip Juranovic and Giorgos Giakoumakis depart, and more could follow in the future.
On the other hand, there are some players that Celtic might be more than open to leaving. Albian Ajeti appears to fall under that category.
Ajeti was signed from West Ham United for a transfer fee believed to be around £5 million in the summer of 2020. While he might have arrived with high expectations, the Swiss international was unable to match any of them. And currently he finds himself on loan at Sturm Graz.
Ajeti’s time there has been challenging as well. But it looks like the club are yet to decide his future. As reported by Football Scotland, Sturm Graz sporting director Andreas Schicker said:
"“We still have time until just after the end of the season to take up the option of buying him. And we certainly won’t let ourselves be stressed about it now.“We’ll wait for the remaining games in the championship group and then make a decision. Until then, we will be in constant contact with his advisor in order to constantly reassess the situation.”"
£5 million Celtic player could still leave permanently
Ajeti had made a bright start to life at Parkhead and quickly racked up his first five goals for the Hoops. But then his form completely fell off and he has never been able to recover.
The hope was that he would rediscover his best at Sturm Graz. But unfortunately, that has not been the case as he has continued to struggle to find the back of the net consistently. According to stats from Transfermarkt, Ajeti has scored 4 goals in 18 appearances this season till now.
Thus, it feels pretty unlikely that Sturm Graz would sign him on a permanent basis from Celtic in the summer. Anything can happen in football though. Let’s see if Ajeti can rediscover his form towards the end of the campaign and earn himself a move away.