Celtic intensify interest in “explosive” £6m star

After an inauspicious but victorious start to their Scottish Premiership title defense, Celtic’s need for attacking reinforcements was emphatically underlined further.

On Sunday, after the champions’ flag had been flown, the Hoops struggled to break down a solid and stubborn St Mirren, requiring a deflected strike from Luke McCowan with just two minutes remaining to pinch all three points at Parkhead.

In less than a fortnight, Brendan Rodgers’ side will take on either Kairat or Slovan Bratislava in a season-defining Champions League play-off tie, the first leg in Almaty between that pair ended 1-0 on Wednesday, and supporters are concerned about the squad’s current lack of quality.

So, with that clash looming large, could Celtic soon sign a new highly-rated youngster?

Celtic’s search for firepower

Inarguably, Celtic’s squad is weaker now than it was in May, largely due to the fact Nicolas Kühn has been sold to Como for a reported fee of £16.5m.

The German winger scored 21 goals across all competitions last season, most notably bagging a brace during the famous Champions League victory over RB Leipzig, also on target as the Hoops came agonisingly close to a victory over Bayern Munich in Bavaria.

This saw him sold for a more than 500% profit, having arrived from Rapid Wien for just £3m a year and a half earlier, but fans are demanding that this money be reinvested in a similarly high-quality replacement.

Well, according to a report from TEAMtalk, Celtic are intensifying their interest in Brøndby winger Clement Bischoff, with Premier League trio Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Brighton also noted as being interested.

They add that, should he move to Glasgow, he would add ‘dynamism’ to Rodgers’ wide options, valued at just over £6m.

It’s safe to assume Celtic have sent scouts to Brøndbyvester, given their long-standing interest in Brøndby​​​​​​​’s top scorer last season Mathias Kvistgaarden, who instead joined Norwich City for £6.9m, but will the Scottish champions land their man this time?

What Clement Bischoff would bring to Celtic

Still only 19 years old, Bischoff made his Danish Superligaen debut as recently as February 2024, but was a key figure for Brøndby last season, making 39 senior appearances across all competitions, 27 of which were starts.

He scored two league goals, on target against Viborg and Lyngby, while also providing ten assists, starting both legs of Brøndby’s Conference League qualifying victory over Havnar Bóltfelag to start this campaign. He also started their first two Superligaen fixtures, scoring the only goal as they beat Nordsjælland away from home last month.

His performances saw him included in Denmark’s squad for the under-21 European Championships earlier this summer, starting three of four fixtures, netting against Ukraine and during the quarter-final defeat to France in Prešov.

During that tournament, Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout labelled him a “quality winger”, adding elsewhere that he is “flamboyant”, noting that his strengths include “explosive” pace, dribbling, ball-striking technique and the fact he is ambidextrous.

So how does he compare to the man he could well be replacing in Glasgow Kühn?

As the table documents, while Kühn comes out on top for the vast majority of metrics, it’s worth noting that Bischoff is still a teenager, while the German joined Celtic as a 24-year-old, and played almost twice as many minutes during the timeframe analysed.

The young Dane’s statistics are largely similar to Kühn’s, which is certainly high praise, coming out on top when it comes to shooting accuracy and crosses per game, while only a small amount below in terms of shots, assists and chances created.

Thus, Bischoff is clearly an ultra-talented player, one that could prove to be a bargain if Celtic are able to secure his signature.

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