Gustaf Lagerbielke has described Celtic’s interest in him as ‘an honour’ as the Scottish Premiership champions make a £3 million bid for the Elfsborg defender.
On Tuesday afternoon, Elsborg’s sporting director – Stefan Andreasson – broke his silence as reports linking his highly-rated Sweden international with a move to Glasgow continue to swirl.
Rumours of Celtic’s ‘interest’, Andreasson says, are on the money.
But Gustaf Lagerbielke is not yet boarding a flight to Scotland. In fact, negotiations have not even begun really, Celtic potentially waiting for Carl Starfelt to seal his move to La Liga outfit Celta Vigo before stepping up their pursuit of his replacement.
“We have had a dialogue in this case. There is an interest, yes. But we are not in a negotiation,” Andreasson explains.
“Then, the club must move from interest to acting powerfully concretely. We are not there right now.”
Celtic want Gustaf Lagerbielke
Lagerbielke, like fellow Swede Starfelt, is a confident, assured, two-footed centre-half. One who is equally comfortable breaking lines with his piercing passes as he is defending the width of his own penalty area.
Celtic, Expressen report, have submitted a bid of £3 million for the Stockholm-born 23-year-old. And, speaking to BT, Lagerbielke could not hide his pride after being offered the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Starfelt, Mikael Lustig and the legendary Henrik Larsson.
“It’s an honour,” he says.
“(My rapid rise to promise has been) an awesome journey. And I’m very proud of it.”
Celtic have already signed Maik Nawrocki in a £4.3 million deal from Polish football. He impressed on his Scottish Premiership bow during Sunday’s 4-2 victory over Ross County. Lagerbielke, then, will have to compete not only with Cameron Carter-Vickers and Yuki Kobayashi, but Nawrocki too, although opportunities should be relatively prosperous during another gruelling campaign.
“I wanted to put Carl Starfelt on (from the bench) because it might be his last game here. He has been a great servant to the club,” Celtic coach Brendan Rodgers told The Guardian after that Ross County triumph.
“There is interest in him, and he would like to take up that possibility. We will resolve that as quick as we can.”
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