Brendan Rodgers poised to get one over his old employers as Celtic bent on signing sensational forward who Enzo Maresca doesn’t trust but face ONE stumbling block.
Celtic have been told to target Leicester City striker Patson Daka in the January transfer window, but there’s doubts over if they could afford to make a move.
The Zambian was signed by former manager Brendan Rodgers in the summer of 2021, with the club paying a fee of around £23 million. He scored 15 goals for the club in his first two seasons but has found game time hard to come by under Enzo Maresca.
Daka looked to be moving on in the final hours of the summer transfer window. A last-minute loan move to Premier League Bournemouth fell through in the final hours of the window.
He has since made just two cameo appearances from the bench, in the Carabao Cup clash vs Liverpool and playing the final minute of the 1-0 Championship win vs Sunderland.
The striker was left out of the squad entirely for Saturday’s 2-0 win over Watford with injured players such as Tom Cannon and Yunus Akgun returning to the squad.
It means that he could be set to move on when the January window opens. Celtic, now managed by Rodgers, are on the lookout for a striker, and pundit Chris Sutton has said that Daka is one that the club should look at.
“I look at someone like Patson Daka who is not getting much of a game at Leicester City in the Championship,” he wrote in the Daily Record. “He scored shed loads at Red Bull Salzburg and would more than fit the bill.
“But there’s no way Celtic could afford him, unless it was a loan deal with Leicester being charitable with the wage split. They have to operate in a different market – and that’s where it becomes tough for Rodgers.”
Daka was in good form for Zambia over the most recent international break. Despite his lack of game time with City, he started both of the nation’s World Cup qualifiers, scoring twice in the 4-2 win over Congo and once in the 2-1 loss vs Niger.