Journalist Confirms Celtic Are Set To Lose Out To German Club In Race For City Defender

Journalist Confirms Celtic Are Set To Lose Out To German Club In Race For City Defender

Celtic appear to have lost out to Bundesliga 2 side Schalke in the battle to sign Manchester City centre-back Ko Itakura.

Sky Germany journalist Max Bielefeld has revealed that the German club have agreed a loan deal with an option to buy the Japanese international at the end of the season. The defender is expected to fly out for a medical today:

Itakura is the second centre-half that the Hoops have missed out on in the past few days, with Liverpool’s Ben Davies having also decided to turn down a switch to Celtic Park after agreeing to join Sheffield United.

It’s an area of the pitch that is in badly need of strengthening, despite the addition of Carl Starfelt from Rubin Kazan last month. Christopher Jullien remains sidelined with a knee injury, meaning manager Ange Postecoglou only has one other recognised central defender to choose from in Stephen Welsh, as well as Nir Bitton.

David Tully

David Tully

David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for National World's Football News Network.