Celtic news: Triple signing announcement on cards, Kyogo injury update, duo set to resume training

Celtic are expected to confirm the signing of Legia Warsaw defender Maik Nawrocki next week after the Polish centre-half completed medical checks.
Mark Atkinson
By Mark Atkinson
Published 23rd Jul 2023, 08:43 GMT
Updated 23rd Jul 2023, 08:51 GMT
Celtic forward Kyogo Furuhashi takes a tumble during the 1-0 win over Gamba Osaka in Japan.Celtic forward Kyogo Furuhashi takes a tumble during the 1-0 win over Gamba Osaka in Japan.
Celtic forward Kyogo Furuhashi takes a tumble during the 1-0 win over Gamba Osaka in Japan.

The Scottish champions are understood to have agreed a £4million fee for the 22-year-old, who will compete with Cameron Carter-Vickers, Carl Starfelt and Yuki Kobayashi for the starting berths in Brendan Rodgers’ team. Nawrocki could be part of a triple signing announcement in the coming days, with South Korean duo Yang Hyeon-jun and Kwon Hyeok-kyu touching down in Scotland after completing deals from Gangwon FC and Busan I-Park respectively. Yang and Kwon were pictured arriving at Glasgow Airport on Saturday as they prepare to make their moves official.

Rodgers will hope to have all three players available for selection when his team travel to Dublin on Saturday to take on Wolves in their penultimate pre-season friendly. Celtic signed off their tour of Japan with a 1-0 win over Gamba Osaka, with Alexandro Bernabei netting five minutes from time. “I really enjoyed the exercise again,” Rodgers said in the aftermath of the win. “First half we played some really good football and the home keeper made some fantastic saves. We worked the ball really well at times and we didn't have many opportunities against us. In the second half we had a challenging 25 minutes but overall it was an excellent exercise. I always say that good teams start quick and finish strong.”

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Celtic, however, do have concerns over their talismanic forward Kyogo Furuhashi, who is still struggling with a shoulder injury and requires surgery to cure it. “Kyogo is still working on his fitness as he had a problem in Portugal with his shoulder,” said Rodgers. “It’s obviously something he deals with. I’ve seen it in the past with players when their shoulders can pop out a little bit. It’s probably one of those where it probably won’t be totally right until he has an operation on it. But he can obviously get by without that as he’s not in any real pain other than when it pops out. Surgery would be down the player.”

Defenders Carter-Vickers and Anthony Ralston were due to resume full training back in Scotland over the weekend, but it still could be too soon for either to be involved against Wolves or play a part in James Forrest’s testimonial against Atletic Bilbao on Tuesday, August 1.

Related topics:Brendan Rodgers