Stoke City are ready to offload former Celtic target Moritz Bauer.
According to Sky Sports, Stoke City have left Moritz Bauer out of their pre-season tour of the Netherlands, as they want to offload him this summer.
Bauer, 27, actually showed some quality in the Premier League after joining Stoke from Rubin Kazan in January 2018, but quickly fell out of the Stoke plans under Gary Rowett.
His fortunes didn’t improve under Nathan Jones, and he ended the campaign with just eight league appearances to his name, with his Potters career coming to an end.
Stoke will now look to find a suitor for Bauer, and it would be interesting to know what Celtic’s stance would be now, having wanted him last summer.
The Daily Mail claimed last summer that Brendan Rodgers was looking to bring Bauer to Celtic, but no move materialised. Importantly though, the Bhoys haven’t managed to bring in any other right back either.
Celtic have now lost Mikael Lustig and Cristian Gamboa, meaning two right backs are needed. Moving for a proven player and one for the future may be a smart approach, and Bauer – who has played international and Premier League football – would fit the bill for the first player.
Rodgers wanted Christopher Jullien, and Celtic continued that pursuit even after his exit. Neil Lennon is now in charge, and Bauer fits a similar kind of bill to Jullien – a player with decent experience who still has a few years of quality ahead of him.
A quick, attack-minded right back with the ability to play further forward, Bauer may be down the list for Celtic after a lost season with Stoke, but having been made available, he should at least be under consideration again, this time by Lennon.
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