Celtic defender Gustaf Lagerbielke has admitted that he is keen on a move away from the Scottish Premiership champions already with a dream move to Serie A on the cards for the Lecce transfer target.
Much has been made of Brendan Rodgers’ rather poor record in the recruitment department during two separate spells at Celtic, and the struggles of Gustaf Lagerbielke in Glasgow will do little to quell those concerns.
After just five months and a grand total of nine appearances, the Sweden international could be on his way out already.
Lecce are interested. And, while Sky Sports indicate that Celtic will wait until they find out the seriousness of Cameron Carter-Vickers’ injury before coming to a decision, Lagerbielke appears to be taking matters into his own hands in an attempt to force through a dream move to Italy’s top flight.
Celtic face Gustaf Lagerbielke decision
“Lecce has shown a very strong interest in me. I want to go, play and make a difference,” Lagerbielke tells Tuttomercatoweb.
“All footballers dream of playing in the big leagues. And I have dreamed of Serie A since I was a child. Many Scandinavian footballers have played for Lecce.
“This would be an advantage in terms of settling in.”
Celtic paid £3 million to sign Lagerbielke from Elfsborg in August. The Stockholm-born centre-half has barely featured in the Scottish Premiership, however, and has played only 27 minutes of league football since a 2-1 win at Motherwell in September.
Only nine Hoops appearances
He will, of course, always have that stoppage-time Champions League winner against Feyenoord but even that proved to be less of a ‘coming of age’ moment and more of a false dawn.
Celtic have already moved on Yosuke Ideguchi this month, while Kwon Hyeok-kyu left on loan to St Mirren. According to reports, The Hoops are may also consider to offers for Alexandro Bernabei, Yuki Kobayashi and Benjamin Siegrist.
Celtic, meanwhile, showed an interest in one of Lagerbielke’s former Elfsborg team-mates recently. Goalkeeper Hakon Valdimarsson has, however, moved to England instead with Brentford.
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