It is no secret that Celtic need to sign a winger this summer. Nicolas Kuhn has left to join Como FC on a permanent basis already, Luis Palma has signed with Lech Poznan on loan and it is believed that Marco Tilio is headed to Rapid Vienna. All those departures combined with Jota's long-term injury have left the Hoops scrambling for options on the flanks.
They have been linked with quite a few wingers in recent times. For a while, it had looked like Michel-Ange Balikwisha was closing in on a move to Celtic.
That is what reports coming out of Belgium had suggested. But unfortunately, it looks like those were pretty wide of the mark.
How are we so confident about that? Well, because the one guy who will know more about Balikwisha's future in football than anybody else has confirmed that there are no ongoing discussions with Celtic. As reported by the Daily Record, his agent representative Jibril Rekkab said:
"Michel-Ange is not closed to the idea of joining Celtic, but the club would still have to come forward. No discussions are underway."
Michel-Ange Balikwisha to Celtic takes sudden U-turn
So, it appears that the hopes that Celtic fans had placed on the club signing Balikwisha this summer are headed nowhere unless the situation changes soon. The Belgian winger's camp are not holding any talks with the Scottish champions at the moment.
Of course, things can change quickly in the transfer market. But that being, it is hard to imagine that Celtic will have waited this long to discuss a move for Balikwisha, having been linked with the past two years.
There are other wingers who Celtic have been linked with as well. But none of them have been linked with the club as consistently as Balikwisha. So, this news will come as a surprise to plenty of people who have been keeping an eye on the situation for sure. It does open up the chance the club will make a signing that nobody is expecting.