Celtic reportedly want to bring Husein Balic to the Scottish Premiership after a superb season in Austria with Bundesliga outfit SNK St Polten.
Celtic’s latest transfer target is quick. Very quick. There’s a reason he is called ‘The Sprinter’ in his homeland after all.
According to the Scottish Daily Mail (5 July, page 89), the Scottish Premiership champions have added Husein Balic to their growing list of transfer targets.
The Hoops have spent over £10 million already on Luca Connell, Boli Mbombo and Christopher Jullien, although Balic’s £700,000 price-tag potentially makes him the bargain of the summer in Scotland.
He plays for St Polten in his native Austria and travelled with his country to the U21 European Championships in Italy this summer. His eight goals and five assists also helped St Polten finish a respectable sixth in the Bundesliga table last season.
But it is his searing pace which really catches the eye.
“I was fast in my youth. Through the professional training in the academy and at the club (my pace) has improved again. But it’s mostly the genes,” Balic told Laiola1 recently.
There is certainly a lot of hype building around the 23-year-old in his homeland.
“He was a ray of hope against the Danes for me, he did very well with his speed,” Austrian U21 coach Werner Gregoritsch said recently, after Balic impressed off the bench in the recent 3-1 defeat to Denmark.
A player with such incredible speed can often find himself shoehorned into a ‘supersub’ role and, with Celtic boasting plenty of forward options, one wonders whether that is the part he would play in the Premiership.
Either way, Balic would guarantee plenty of excitement at Parkhead.
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