Celtic are reportedly stepping up their pursuit of Dinamo Zagreb defender Filip Benkovic, who has previously been linked with the Hoops.
In potentially exciting news for Celtic fans, The Scottish Sun reports that the Hoops are stepping up their efforts to try and land long-term target Filip Benkovic after recently scouting the Dinamo Zagreb defender.
Nir Bitton’s fairly regular appearances at the heart of the Bhoys defence this term as Jozo Simunovic and Erik Sviatchenko both battled injury has highlighted that Brendan Rodgers really needs to strengthen his options at centre-back.
The Israel international has done fairly well in the role, but he has also looked vulnerable against some of the better sides, and thus, it is no surprise that Rodgers is considering potential options in that area of the pitch, and Benkovic appears to be a primary target for the Scottish Premiership leaders.
The Scottish Sun reports that Celtic have kept a keen eye on the 20-year-old during the last two transfer windows, but have ultimately failed to land the 20-year-old, with the youngster slapped with a £17 million asking price last year, while The Sunday People (print edition; 23rd July 2017; page 51) reported in July that £13.5 million would be required to make a deal happen.
Given those prices, it would be a major surprise if the Hoops stood a chance of signing the Croatian, so either Celtic are wasting their time or Rodgers just has a sneaky feeling that the club can pull off a stunning coup for a fee significantly lower than either of the asking prices that have been reported in recent times.
It would be a major surprise if Celtic were able to offer anything like the fees that Zagreb have reportedly previously been looking for, so surely Rodgers must sense that there is a chance that Zagreb would accept a lower fee, and the Hoops have an opportunity to land one of their long-term targets for a very reasonable fee indeed.
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