Celtic have been linked with some very highly-rated young players in the ongoing summer transfer window. They have brought in five already in the form of Odin Thiago Holm, Yang Hyun-jun, Kwon Hyeok-kyu, Marco Tilio and Maik Nawrocki. Fans would be hoping for a few more signings over the coming month.
Another player who was linked with a move to Celtic this summer is Carlos Borges. The Portuguese youngster has been an absolute standout at the youth level for Manchester City.
Instead, it had looked like he was on his way to West Ham United for a while. But Ajax have swooped in late to get a deal done for Borges and he will be heading to the Dutch club this summer.
As tweeted out by Fabrizio Romano, medical tests were completed late at night. It will be a £17 million fixed fee to Manchester City. The Premier League giants will get to keep buy-back and sell-on clauses. Borges to Ajax is a ‘here we go’.
Celtic-linked player set to join Ajax in £17 million deal
Borges is one of the brightest young talents in European football right now. Thus, signing him would have been a major coup for a club like Celtic.
At the same time though, it is hard to imagine the Hoops shelling out that kind of a fee in order to sign a player who has not achieved anything at the senior level till now. It is almost twice as much as the record transfer figure they have ever shelled out, which was for Odsonne Edouard.
It is not hard to see why Ajax were so open to taking the risk on the Portuguese youngster though. According to stats from Transfermarkt, Borges scored 29 goals and provided 18 assists in 33 appearances for Manchester City at the youth levels in the 2022/23 campaign.