Celtic want to re-sign £160k-per-week star

Given the very underwhelming start to the season the club have endured, Celtic supporters are demanding reinforcements when the transfer window re-opens in January.

During the summer, the Scottish Premiership champions did make 11 senior signings, albeit the arrivals of Marcelo Saracchi, Michel-Ange Balikwisha, Sebastian Tounekti and Kelechi Ịheanachọ all came right at the end of the window, after the club had crashed out in the Champions League play-off round against Kairat.

Meantime, Brendan Rodgers’ side were beaten 2-0 by Dundee at Dens on Sunday, so are currently five points adrift current league leaders Hearts, who they face at Tynecastle in an eagerly-anticipated clash on Sunday.

In summary, supporters are not happy, chants of “sack the board” can be heard loud and clear at every game, so could a new signing or two this Christmas help lift the mood?

Celtic targeting January reinforcements

Last week, totally out of the blue, it was reported that Celtic were close to signing Bobby Clark for £6m; the 20-year-old midfielder is currently on loan at Derby County from RB Salzburg.

However, Rodgers told Sky Sports “I haven’t a clue where that has come from”, pretty emphatically shutting those rumours down.

More recently, according to a report by Sports Boom, Celtic ‘have expressed an interest’ in re-signing Andy Robertson from Liverpool.

While the defender learned his trade at Queen’s Park and Dundee United, he was in the Hoops academy from 2003 to 2009.

The report adds that the Scotland captain is into the final 12 months of his £160k-per-week contract on Merseyside, so will be free to sign a pre-contract agreement come 1 January, but the Premier League champions may be willing to sell before then, ‘providing the price is right’.

So, could the 31-year-old soon swap Anfield for Celtic Park?

Why Celtic could seal a bigger coup than Clark

Since joining Liverpool from Hull City for around £8m eight years ago, Robertson has been an absolute stalwart of the Reds’ success.

Right now, only nine men have made more Premier League appearances for Liverpool than Robertson, set to overtake Roberto Firmino, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Robbie Fowler in the next few weeks.

During the 254 appearances, the left-back has accumulated 56 assists, meaning he ranks among the very best defenders in Premier League history by this measure, as the table below documents.

As the table documents, Robertson is behind only former partner-in-crime Alexander-Arnold in terms of Premier League assists by defenders, underlining his attacking prowess, with Liverpool legend, and former Rangers manager, Steven Gerrard labelling the duo “world-class”.

He has been such a key contributor at Liverpool for so many seasons, making his current predicament peculiar.

The Scotsman started 29 Premier League games last season, but hasn’t started any this time round so far, following the arrival of Miloš Kerkez from Bournemouth, despite the fact the Hungarian is yet to impress.

Speaking on Sky Sports following Manchester United’s shock victory at Anfield on Sunday, Jamie Carragher said that he thinks it’s “strange” that Robertson is “getting treated like Tsimikas”, where Kerkez is the undisputed first-choice and Robertson is a deputy, rather than even a rotation option.

If that continues to be the case, it appears pretty likely that he’ll be on the move in 2026, so could Robertson fulfill a lifelong ambition?

Born and raised in Glasgow, Robertson has spoken repeatedly about his desire to play for Celtic one day, having been released by the club as a 15-year-old, before going on to play for Queen’s Park and Dundee United.

In 2022, he stated that he’s “always dreamed” of representing his boyhood club, elaborating that “when you watch them and see a packed Celtic Park… as a fan you always have that dream”.

At international level, the 31-year-old now has 88 caps to his name, just three behind Jim Leighton, while chasing down Sir Kenny Dalglish’s all-time record of 102 that has stood since 1986.

Of course, the eternal dilemma for Scotland managers has been how does one get both Kieran Tierney and Robertson into the same side, a headache that could soon not only occur at Hampden, but three miles across the city at Celtic Park too.

Nevertheless, the addition of the national team captain would represent a major coup for the Hoops, with his Premier League experience and title-winning credentials far exceeding the undoubted promise of a player like Clark, one who previously struggled to make his mark after joining Red Bull Salzburg last summer.

With Celtic also already boasting similar talents to the Englishman, a deal for a figure like Robertson should well be the priority, helping to get supporters back on side, adding much-needed experience and quality to this struggling outfit.