Soon after Celtic appointed Brendan Rodgers as the manager of the club for a second time, rumours broke out that they were interested in signing Daniel Amartey as well. The Ghana international had worked with the Northern Irishman during their time together at Leicester City and was an important part of his plans.
On top of that, Amartey’s contract with Leicester City has run out this summer, meaning that he is available on a free transfer. Thus, it was not hard to see why Celtic might have been interested in signing him.
A move for Amartey looks to be off the table for the Hoops now though. It appears that he is headed for Turkey instead.
As reported by Sporx, Besiktas are very close to reaching an agreement with Amartey. The defender is expected to come to Istanbul at the beginning of the week.
Celtic handed blow in bid to sign Daniel Amartey for free
Thus, it looks like Celtic have lost out in the race to sign Amartey. The Ghana international defender seems headed to Besiktas instead.
Of course, many had questioned the need to sign Amartey, when the club already have an established duo in the heart of defence in the form of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt. Behind them, there are question marks about the depth though.
On the other hand, it will also be interesting to see how Celtic deal with the departures that are bound to take place in the ongoing summer transfer window. Jota looks close to an exit already. And several others have been linked with moves away as well.
The club need to strengthen though. They have three trophies to defend and a Champions League group stage campaign coming up as well. Rodgers will surely be keen to impress as well, as he has a point to prove.