If RB Leipzig start waving a £15million cheque for Nicolas Kuhn under Celtic’s noses, the champions should take it without hesitation.
Good luck to the Bundesliga club if they are willing to pay that money for a winger who was once on their books and think they can coax more consistency out of him than Brendan Rodgers did.
Sure, Kuhn eventually came onto a game after arriving at Parkhead from Rapid Vienna for £3m in January 2024. And it’s true that he set the Scottish league on fire in the first six months of the season just ended, as well as intermittently shining on the Champions League stage.
But what happened after that? What happened to the Nicolas Kuhn who was capable of dismantling opposition teams seemingly at the flick of a switch?
Whether he just felt the domestic scene in Scotland was somehow beneath him, or whether he couldn’t cope with the constant pressure of having to win matches, we may never really know.
Whatever was wrong, there were times when Kuhn just didn’t look interested in the final months of the campaign. And, if it was a move he was after, surely he had to produce the goods on a more regular basis?
Nicolas Kuhn celebrates his Champions League goal against suitors RB Leipzig at Parkhead
Kuhn’s goal lit up a memorable night for Celtic fans… and Leipzig’s scouts, it seems
The second half of the season proved less successful for Kuhn, who went badly off the boil
You can be sure that Rodgers will have tried everything in his power to motivate the 25-year-old German, especially when the manager needed someone to unlock stubborn defences.
But the overall perception, apart from the odd show of petulance towards fans from the player when he actually turned in something resembling a full performance, was that he was coasting.
Yes, he finished the season with 21 goals and 15 assists, but it should and could have been more. Much more.
Maybe things will change if he stays. Maybe not.
Celtic are in talks with Nordsjaelland’s right winger Benjamin Nygren and he could potentially be a straight replacement, albeit the Swedish international also operates in midfield.
RB Leipzig no doubt had their eyes opened when Kuhn scored two goals in an outstanding performance against his former club in the 3-1 league phase win last November.
If they feel that was a sign of what he can do for them, and are willing to take a punt on him, Celtic should take the £12m profit and wave him on his way.
Sweden winger Benjamin Nygren is close to a move to Celtic after a fee and terms were agreed
Nygren could prove to be the steal of the century
If Celtic can secure the signing of Benjamin Nygren for the £1.7million fee that has been widely reported, it is sure to result in heads being scratched from Sweden to Belgium and from the Netherlands to Denmark.
This, after all, is a player who moved from Gothenburg to Genk for a fee of £4m as a 17-year-old, scored on his debut for the Belgian outfit, held his own on loan at Heerenveen in the Dutch top flight and then caught fire in Denmark with Nordsjaelland.
Oh, and he’s just broken into the full Swedish national side, earning lavish praise from Newcastle’s superstar striker Alexander Isak in the process, and has two goals in his four caps to date.
Considering £1.7m would barely be enough to afford the toenail clippings of an equivalent winger plying his trade in the likes of the English Championship, it would appear Celtic’s recruitment team may just have uncovered yet another golden egg.
While predominantly a right-sided wide man, Nygren also featured on the left wing, central midfield, striker and an advanced midfield position in the season just gone for the team who finished fifth in the Danish Superliga.
He fired 16 goals in his 32 appearances and serious questions must be getting asked in and around the boardroom of the club based in the town of Farum.
Nordsjaelland’s home ground goes by the name of Right to Dream Park and its paying customers certainly have the right to dream that their club figureheads won’t allow star assets to leave on the cheap like Nygren is about to do.
Nygren (centre) enjoys a laugh in Sweden training with Jordan Larsson (left), son of Henrik
Yes, his contract is expiring at the end of the year and he has admitted to having designs on testing himself at a Champions League-standard club, but given his precocious talent and burgeoning international pedigree, someone somewhere has missed a trick.
Certainly not Celtic, though, who will hope the livewire winger, still only 23, can show his best stuff and help the club advance their own Champions League ambitions.
It has the look of a match made in heaven and, taking Celtic’s previous history with cut-price Swedish signings into account, it proves you don’t necessarily have to lavish huge amounts of money to keep your fanbase engaged in the summer window.
Japanese target can hardly fare worse than Yuki
With discussions now taking place over a move for Hayato Inamura of Albirex Niigata, Celtic will be hoping to reap a greater reward than that received from their last investment in a Japanese centre-half.
Yuki Kobayashi was brought in from J-League outfit Vissel Kobe in November 2022 when Ange Postecoglou was still manager of the Parkhead club and handed a whopping five-year contract.
However, he made only seven appearances before being punted out the door in the summer of 2024 for an undisclosed fee and now finds himself trawling around the bottom end of the Portuguese Second Division.
Alastair Johnston and Yuki Kobayashi are paraded at Parkhead but only one proved a hit
Kobayashi had been tipped for a move to Major League Soccer in the United States in the January 2024 window when it became clear he was already deemed surplus to requirements by boss Brendan Rodgers, who had taken over from Postecoglou the previous summer and failed to play the left-sided stopper at all during the 2023-24 campaign.
Kobayashi’s outings in the green-and-white following his arrival were restricted to that 2022-23 campaign, but two of his starts came in a 3-0 Old Firm thrashing at Ibrox and a 4-2 loss to Hibernian at Easter Road.
He spent last season with Portimonense in Portugal’s Liga 2 and made 26 appearances in a season that ended with the club only just managing to escape the relegation play-offs by the skin of their teeth.
Still aged just 24, the dream of heading to Europe for Champions League action with Postecoglou and co must seem some distance back in the rear view mirror.
Kobayashi is left chasing shadows as St Mirren’s Curtis Main proves too much of a handful
Inamura, meanwhile, will face a battle to prove that players from the more technical Japanese league can cope with the physicality of the Scottish game in the same way more attack-minded individuals such as Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda have thrived.
The bar, let’s be honest, has not been set terribly high.
Saints look to Park to work his magic in Paisley
Former Celtic — and Rangers — talent spotter John Park has been appointed as St Mirren’s new head of recruitment.
Park was credited with unearthing the likes of Victor Wanyama and Gary Hooper during a successful stint at Parkhead, and was most recently head of recruitment at Blackburn Rovers.
And now he’s heading for Paisley after Saints manager Stephen Robinson’s trusty chief scout Martin Foyle left the club to join Carlisle.
Stephen Robinson has turned to a former Celtic talent spotter to replace key man Martin Foyle
‘Martin has been an integral part of what we’ve done over the past three and a half years and he’s been an integral part of what I’ve done as a manager over 10 years now,’ said Robinson.
‘He’s a close friend of mine now and it’s a sad loss for the club.
‘Another opportunity arose that was exciting for him and it’s with regret that Martin is leaving. I’d like to put on record my thanks to him for his recruitment and for all he’s done at the football club.
‘The club have appointed John and it’s important that we get working together quickly, build a relationship and I look forward to that.’
Miller time could yet be now… once Askou’s up to speed
Celtic are still being credited with an interest in Motherwell’s highly-rated midfielder Lennon Miller — but there seems no rush for a deal to be done from either side.
The 18-year-old is into the final year of his contract at Fir Park and has suitors all over Europe, including Sunderland and Eintracht Frankfurt.
New Motherwell boss Jens Berthel Askou, speaking to the media for the first time on Wednesday, said: ‘There probably is (interest) but it’s not been on the top of my mind today so I will need to get an update myself.
Lennon Miller keeps a close eye on Greg Taylor, but could he replace him in Celtic’s squad?
‘I know he is a fantastic player and has just gone into the national team. He is a big profile for Motherwell and Scottish football and for sure he is going to have a fantastic international career.
‘We will see over time if it is this summer that he is going to take the next step. I know there is a lot of talk and expectations that he has created by performing really, really well.
‘I haven’t met him yet because he has a few extra days off so I think it will be fair to meet him and have some good discussions before I answer any questions about his future.’
