Celtic were one of the most active teams in Scotland in the winter transfer window. Unfortunately for them, most of their business revolved around outgoings rather than incomings. The Hoops said goodbye to a superstar in Kyogo Furuhashi alongside Alex Valle, whose temporary spell was cut short. The likes of Luis Palma, Stephen Welsh and Odin Thiago Holm left on loan deals.
On the other hand, the only new arrivals were Jota, who was brought back on a permanent basis from Rennes, and Jeffrey Schlupp, who arrived on loan. A pre-contract agreement with Kieran Tierney was also reached.
One position where the Hoops did need to strengthen this winter is striker. But unfortunately, they were not able to do that.
They were linked with the likes of David Strelec, Mathias Kvistgaarden, Kelechi Iheanacho, Danny Ings and more. But by the end of the window, no new signing was made.
€9.5 million Celtic transfer offer for striker was rejected
Interestingly, Strelec did not celebrate after scoring a goal for Slovan Bratislava recently. And it looks like Celtic had indeed put in a transfer bid for him.
As reported by the Daily Record, his father, Milan Strelec, said:
"Celtic's bid of 9.5m Euros? [£7.9m] That didn't help either. Unfortunately, that's how it is. But none of us knows the exact details of the contract or how the installments or bonuses were set. Maybe Slovan wanted to get it all at once, that's why the club decided against it. It's probably pointless to get into it."
It is safe to say that Strelec could have been a good signing for Celtic. He has been doing very well for Slovan Bratislava in domestic competitions and even scored a couple of goals in the Champions League this season, one of them coming against Atletico Madrid.
Celtic got a chance to see Strelec up close as well. That is because he played in Slovan Bratislava's 5-1 defeat at Parkhead earlier in the season.
Celtic might not have been able to sign him in the winter transfer window, but it is possible that they will try again in the summer. Let's see how things play out.