MAIK NAWROCKI, Celtic’s £4.3million misfit, has enjoyed a successful loan season with Hannover 96 who are pushing for promotion to the Bundesliga.
The 25-year-old centre-back still has two years to run on the contract he signed in the summer of 2023 when he joined from Polish outfit Legia Warsaw.
Remarkably, the German-born defender made a mere 20 first-team appearances for the Hoops before agreeing a season-long switch to the second-tier club.
CRUNCH…Maik Nawrocki challenges Aberdeen winger Pape Gueye in Celtic’s 5-1 win at Pittodrie in May 2025.
Nawrocki’s career stalled in Glasgow, but he has not ruled out returning to Parkhead although there is an option to buy for £2million in the contract.
The club are just four points off automatic promotion to the money-spinning German top flight and if they achieve their goal they have already stated they will try to make the player’s move permanent.
Nawrocki, speaking in a report in the Daily Record, admitted: “There are several options for me at the end of the season.
“I could stay here, go back to Celtic or maybe go somewhere completely different.
“This loan move has worked out very well for me.
“It was important that I played regularly again after two years of hardly playing. The way we play is also good for me.”
DOWN AND OUT…Cameron Carter-Vickers’ season has been wrecked by injury.
Nawrocki added: “I am closer to my family in Bremen, too.
“During my time in Warsaw and at Celtic, we saw each other very rarely. Now it’s only an hour’s drive and I visit more often.”
Celtic have struggled in the central defensive positions this season and have been without key man Cameron Carter-Vickers since he limped off at the end of the 2-1 Europa League win over Sturm Graz.
With Stephen Welsh also on loan at Motherwell, Martin O’Neill has been forced to turn to Benjamin Arthur who arrived in a temporary switch from Brentford and has made four appearances.
The situation wasn’t helped when Auston Trusty copped a three-game ban after picking up his second red card of the season in the 2-1 loss to Hibs at Parkhead in February.
Rookie Dane Murray has also been utilised and the central defensive question is one of many that will have to be answered during a crucial summer.
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