At the start of deadline day, Celtic fans were hopeful that the club would finally be able to get the deal for Kasper Dolberg over the line. If reports are accurate then the Hoops had already seen two of their offers being turned down by Anderlecht and it had been reported the previous evening that the Scottish champions were preparing a third one.
It is unclear whether that third bid was ever made or not. One thing is pretty clear though, somewhere along the line, something did not work out and Celtic could not get a deal for Dolberg over the line.
There were suggestions that Dolberg had turned down the chance to join Celtic and wanted a return to Ajax instead after his former club had shown late interest in signing him. But as it turns out, the move to Amsterdam is yet to go through and there is no guarantee that it will.
As reported by Sacha Tavolieri, there is a decisive meeting this evening at 19:30 to definitely complete, or not, Dolberg’s deal to Ajax. Advanced talks are ongoing.
Kasper Dolberg to Ajax U-turn as Anderlecht might regret Celtic decision
It is worth mentioning that the transfer window in the Netherlands has not closed yet. It will do so tonight, 24 hours after Scotland.
There have been some rumours in the media that Ajax might be looking at an initial loan deal with an obligation to buy included in it. Of course, there had been suggestions that Anderlecht wanted to bring in funds after failing to make Europe this season. So, they might end up regretting the Celtic move not happening, if this deal fails to materialise.
Whatever may be the case, Celtic no longer have a chance to sign Dolberg, and there is no real point keeping an eye on this situation further. Instead, the Hoops are believed to be in talks to sign Kelechi Iheanacho, who is available as a free agent after his contract was terminated late on deadline day.