Scottish Premiership champions Celtic have missed out on Ahmed Touba as the Eredivisie centre-back seals a £1.7 million move to Turkish giants Istanbul Basaksehir, as reported by the Super Lig club’s official website.
In an ideal world, Celtic would have announced the departure of Christopher Jullien on Thursday afternoon before unveiling Touba as his replacement. Instead, Jullien is stuck at Parkhead, his move to Bundesliga.2 champions Schalke falling through at the eleventh hour.
Touba, meanwhile, is jetting out to Turkey instead.
Istanbul Basaksehir, Super Lig champions back in 2020, have won the race for a 24-year-old Algeria international. One who was nominated for Eredivisie’s Defender of the Year award last term, alongside the likes of Lisandro Martinez and Marcos Senesi.
Celtic miss out on Ahmed Touba
“Developing players is an important pillar in our club vision,” says Frank van Mosselveld, sporting director of Touba’s former employers RKC Waalwijk (RTL).
“Ahmed has worked his way up to become an Algerian international at RKC in recent season. With that, he now makes a nice transfer to a top four club from Turkey.
“Which, for us at RKC, is also confirmation that we are able to develop players to such an extent that we can sell them to big clubs.”
There were certainly plenty of ‘big clubs’ who showed an interest in the 6ft 3ins, France-born Touba.
According to FootMercato, Marseille were in the running at one point. L’OM have now snapped up Newcastle-linked Isaak Toure instead. Benfica, Real Betis, Olympiakos and Bayer Leverkusen also liked Touba. So did a Celtic side who, despite the permanent signing of Cameron Carter-Vickers from Tottenham Hotspur, remain in the market for another ball-playing centre-half.
Ange Postecoglou currently has Carl Starfelt, Stephen Welsh and Carter-Vickers at his disposal. But there is a real lack of left-sided defenders at Parkhead. Touba, then, could have been an ideal partner for Carter-Vickers at the back.
According to the Liverpool Echo, long-time transfer target Ben Davies is another option. The former Preston North End stalwart is available for transfer this summer. And he, like Touba, is more comfortable on his left.
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