CELTIC have until 11pm tonight to sign former £20million man Kelechi Iheanacho if they hope to have the striker in place for their Europa League bid.
The frontman is up for grabs as a free agent after being released by Sevilla and the player is well known to Brendan Rodgers after their time together at Leicester City.
The champions will continue talks with Iheanacho as they scramble to get in a replacement for Adam Idah who sealed his £7million switch to Championship side Swansea City yesterday.
Rodgers now has only Daizen Maeda as an experienced attack leader with Johnny Kenny and Shin Yamada as back-up as they prepare for their Europa League adventure which kicks off against Red Star Belgrade in the Serbian capital on September 24.
BLUE HEAVEN – AND HELL…Kelechi Iheanacho cleberates scoring for Manchester City in their 1-1 Champions League draw with Celtic at the The Etihad in December 2016. The travelling fans are not impressed.
The Hoops face a striker crisis if they fail to land Iheanacho and have the 28-year-old frontman registered with UEFA before this evening’s deadline, according to a report in the Scottish Sun.
Iheanacho almost joined the Parkhead side on loan from the La Liga side in January after the £10million sale of Kyogo Furuhashi to Rennes.
Instead, the Nigerian moved to Middlesbrough, but the ex-Manchester City star failed to convince and netted one goal in 15 games before being returned to Sevilla in the summer.
Iheanacho cost Leicester City £20million when they signed him from Pep Giardiola’s club in 2017. Ironically, he scored AGAINST Celtic and Rodgers a year earlier when he notched the hosts’ leveller in the 1-1 Champions League draw in Manchester.
He moved to Spain last year, but has failed to settle and his contract, with a year still to run, has now been scrapped.
Earlier yesterday, Celtic’s interest in Anderlecht’s Danish international hitman Kasper Dolberg ended when he rejoined his former club Ajax in a £9.5million switch.
However, the Hoops managed to seal the £5.2million deal for Tunisian winger Sebastian Tounetki from Swedish side Hammarby.
CELTIC IN £5.2m SEBASTIAN SWOOP
