As is often the case when a transfer window has closed there is more information about deals that didn’t quite materialise. Celtic did not manage to sign all their targets either, even though the club ended up bringing nine new players to the club. There is one striker, who they appeared to miss out on.
There were rumours of Celtic looking to bring 21-year-old Brondby striker Mathias Kvistgaarden to Glasgow this summer. He is a Danish youth international striker with good form with his club.
There were suggestions that Celtic had made an official bid of around £3.5 million for the striker. But Brondby were apparently looking for a figure closer to £6 million. Thus, the two sides could not agree a deal.
The player seems pretty philosophical about the situation and will no doubt continue to attract interest if he performs like this moving forward. As reported by Football Scotland, Kvistgaarden said:
"“There is no doubt that Celtic are, of course, a huge club.“But I left the transfer side of it up to other people than myself. I was only concentrating on showing up for training every day, being on time and doing my things here at the club.“So I let others do the negotiations and deal with everything else. I honestly don’t know what happened. I am still here and I am now only concentrating on helping Brondby do as well as they can.”"
£6 million striker breaks silence on failed Celtic move
Of course, transfer budgets are always a factor and no one wants to pay over the odds for a player. So, it is not unusual for clubs to walk away from a deal.
Celtic do appear short on cover for an out-and-out centre forward, a point which was even more obvious over recent games when Hyeon-gyu Oh was out with an injury. He is still relatively young and perhaps needs time to develop, and perhaps Kvistgaarden was seen by the Hoops in a similar light. That may have influenced the decision not to return to Brondby with a higher bid.
Pleasingly, Oh returned as a substitute in Sunday’s away win at Ibrox. There wasn’t an alternative striker to Kvistgaarden signed in the window so there is still a concern over a lack of cover again should the South Korean international, or even worse, Kyogo, pick up an injury.