Celta Vigo’s sporting director has indicated that the arrival of Carl Starfelt from Scottish Premiership champions Celtic is imminent with the La Liga outfit reportedly paying around £4.3 million.
While Carl Starfelt silenced his doubters for the most part at Parkhead – going from green-and-white ‘bomb-scare’ to one of the first names on Ange Postecoglou’s team sheet – the fact remains that the Sweden international may be remembered more, in some quarters, for moments like this.
Starfelt deflected a shot into the back of his own net during Celtic’s 4-2 victory over Ross County on Saturday. Whether Joe Hart would have saved it anyway is anyone’s guess.
But the fact remains that, while Starfelt has come on leaps and bounds during his two years in Glasgow, head-in-hands moments were never too far away.
Celtic set to sell Carl Starfelt to La Liga
“I wanted to put Carl Starfelt on because it might be his last game here,” Rodgers said after that opening day win, the former Rubin Kazan man coming off the bench late on to replace debutant Maik Nawrocki (The Guardian).
“He has been a great servant to the club. There is interest in him, and he would like to take up that possibility. We will resolve that as quick as we can.”
Celta Vigo, it seems, are on the same page.
Sporting director Juan Carlos Calero, speaking on Tuesday night, indicated that the La Liga club would complete two new signings ‘immediately’. One of those is understood to be Starfelt, though it is not yet certain exactly how much Celta will pay for a player who moved to Scotland in a deal worth around £4 million two years ago.
Celtic, meanwhile, could sign another Swedish centre-half to take Starfelt’s place. The Hoops are reportedly offering £3 million to bring in Gustaf Lagerbielke from Elfsborg.
“We have had a dialogue in this case. There is an interest, yes. But we are not in a negotiation,” explains Elfsborg’s sporting director, Stefan Andreasson.
“Then, the club must move from interest to acting powerfully concretely. We are not there right now.”
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