STEPHEN WELSH is poised to agree a short-term loan with KV Mechelen – and could make a quickfire debut on Sunday evening.
The Celtic fringe player will be allowed to leave by Brendan Rodgers to get game time after making only two first-team appearances this season.
Twenty-four-year-old Welsh can move in a deal in which there is no option to buy and the Hoops have already recalled Dane Murray from his temporary transfer at Queen’s Park to cover the role in the squad, as CQN forecast last month.
GREEN FOR GO…Stephen Welsh in action in Celtic’s 1-1 draw with Ayr United in the pre-sason friendly.
The Belgian club have been trailing the former Scotland Under-21 international skipper and failed in two moves to land him in the summer.
Welsh has dropped behind Cameron Carter-Vickers, Auston Trusty and Liam Scales in the pecking order for places in the centre of the rearguard and the player is already in Belgium to put the finishing touches to the switch, according to a report in the Daily Record.
He is in line to make his KV Mechelen debut in their away game against Cercle Brugge on Sunday night.
Rodgers offloaded Swedish centre-back Gustav Lagerbielke on a season-long loan to Dutch outfit FC Twente in the summer.
Plus there are still question marks over the future of Maik Nawrocki who joined the champions in a £4.3million deal from Legia Warsaw in June 2023.
