Signing highly-rated young players, developing them and moving them on for significantly bigger transfer fees, has been part of Celtic’s strategy for years. Thus, it should be no surprise that the club have already brought in five youngsters this summer. They are Odin Thiago Holm, Marco Tilio, Yang Hyun-jun, Kwon Hyeok-kyu and Maik Nawrocki.
Nawrocki is the latest of those signings and has come in for the biggest transfer fee out of them as well. Unsurprisingly, the expectations surrounding him are higher too.
Celtic have signed Nawrocki from Legia Warsaw for a transfer fee believed to be north of £4 million. The Hoops do have a good record when it comes to signing players from the Polish club. The likes of Josip Juranovic and Artur Boruc were brought in from there and went on to have successful Parkhead careers. Hopefully, the centre-back will follow in their footsteps.
Nawrocki certainly appears to have the backing of Dariusz Dziekanowski. As reported by the Daily Record, the former Celtic player said:
"“When Nawrocki first came from Werder Bremen, he wasn’t a recognised player. He then played for Legia and made progress. In Legia he became consistent, he showed more responsibility. He’s very good on the ball, a right-footer, very comfortable and good at reading the game. He will be a better player than Yuki Kobayashi, who I saw in a few Celtic games. Although Nawrocki will need experience of Scottish football, he is more ready than Kobayashi.“Celtic are paying good money for Nawrocki, Legia are very happy with this money. I hope he is worth this. I didn’t think someone would pay £4million because Legia didn’t win the title. But when you pay that money, you’re not only paying for now but for the future. He’s only 22. So you know if he plays well for Celtic in the Champions League, all of a sudden, you could have a player worth £8-15m.”"
Celtic summer signing tipped to become £15 million player
It will be interesting to see how Nawrocki does for Celtic. He will certainly need some time to adjust to the Scottish game.
Getting into the starting XI will be no easy task either. Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt have established themselves as the first-choice duo in the heart of defence over the past two seasons, playing their part in winning five trophies.
Thus, it will not be easy to get ahead of either of them in the pecking order. Carter-Vickers is currently recovering after undergoing surgery. But the good news is that he is believed to be back in full training.
One would not expect Carter-Vickers to feature regularly from the start of the season though. And that might give Nawrocki the chance to make an early impression.