Celtic target left out of squad as Hoops near £3m deal as coach confirms absence

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Celtic are in advanced talks over a deal to bring in Nicolas Kuhn for around £3 million and the winger has been left out of the Rapid Vienna squad for today’s match. 

HITC Football reported on Friday that, after weeks of speculation, Celtic are now closing in on a deal to add yet another winger to Brendan Rodgers’ armoury.

Nicolas Kuhn, who represented Bayern Munich, Ajax and RB Leipzig at youth level, should arrive for a fee in the region of £3 million after talks between Rapid Vienna and the Scottish Premiership champions reached an advanced stage. 

And, tellingly, Kuhn will be conspicuous by his absence when Rapid Vienna take on Wiener Sport Club in a friendly on Saturday afternoon.  

Celtic close in on Nicolas Kuhn deal

Austrian publication Kurier believe that the talented 24-year-old is keen on a move to Glasgow. Celtic hope to get a deal done within the next 48 hours or so.  

Head coach Robert Klauss, while not quite confirming Kuhn’s imminent departure, did admit that playing the winger in a non-competitive fixture – with a transfer potentially close to completion – was a ‘risk’ Rapid were simply not willing to take. 

“If there was a league game, Kuhn could play,” Klauss says. “But we don’t want to risk anything.”

It remains to be seen what sort of a role Kuhn will have at the Premiership leaders. Producing three goals and seven assists while cutting in on his left foot during the first half of the season, Kuhn could form one half of a devastating inverted winger partnership with Luis Palma on the opposite flank. 

Former Bayern Munich starlet heading to Glasgow

Former Hoops striker Chris Sutton, meanwhile, is hoping that Kuhn can be the exception to the Rodgers’ rule. Many of the former Liverpool boss’s signings – during two separate spells in Glasgow – have flattered to deceive.  

“Postecoglou was ahead of the game. (Reo) Hatate was, and is, brilliant. Matt O’Riley, no-one was really looking at him either, performing for MK Dons,” Sutton explains to the Daily Record.

“Rodgers now needs to be ahead of the game in the same way. (He needs to) find this year’s versions of Hatate and O’Riley. And not, with respect, versions of Jeremy Toljan or Oli Burke.

“Nicolas Kuhn feels project to me. And Rodgers has been quite clear he wants quality and not projects. So will the German be a Daizen Maeda or a Marian Shved?”