Celtic broke their transfer record last summer when they signed Arne Engels from FC Augsburg for a fee believed to be around £11 million. The Belgian midfielder has not exactly come in and shaken up Scottish football but he has done a decent job. And time is on his side to develop his game further. Of course, one cannot overlook the links with Atalanta as well.
On the other hand, there have been suggestions that Celtic could go out and break their transfer record for a second straight summer window. Another highly-rated midfielder is seemingly on their radar.
Several outlets in Russia have claimed that Celtic are interested in Eduard Spertsyan. The 25-year-old Armenian footballer was the captain of Krasnodar as they won the Russian Premier League last season.
Spertsyan has proven himself as one of the best number 10s in that league. He scored 11 goals and provided 6 assists in 28 matches, helping Krasnodar to the title. So, it is not hard to understand why Celtic might be interested in signing the club captain.
Celtic tipped to make club-record bid for midfielder
It looks like it would take a premium transfer fee to sign Spertsyan. The figure was believed to be around £12 million around a month back and with more clubs joining the race for his signature, that is only expected to rise further.
It remains to be seen if Celtic will make that kind of move for Spertsyan this summer. There is no doubt about his talent and he is a very capable leader as well, which is why he has also been linked with teams like Manchester United, PSG and Ajax. Winning the race for his signature won't be easy, even if the Hoops are ready to meet the transfer valuation.
It has been claimed that Celtic will try to sign two midfielders this summer. One for the number 10 role and the other to add some steel and physicality in a defensive midfield role. It remains to be seen if the club are able to meet that target.