At least two Belgian clubs are keen on signing Chancel Mbemba, report Het Belang van Limburg in their Thursday edition.
It’s believed Rafael Benitez is ready to sell the defender, and that’s caught the interest of both Anderlecht and Standard Liege.
Aside from the obvious issues of what Newcastle United would want as a transfer fee, and how much Mbemba would be willing to drop his wages by, there’s another problem, and this benefits Celtic.
The 23 year old isn’t so keen on a return to Belgian football because he doesn’t want it to look like he’s failed overseas. Mbemba prefers a move outside of the country, and that’s where Celtic links come in.
HBVL don’t claim to know anything about Celtic interest other than what has been reported, but they clearly feel Brendan Rodgers has the advantage here.
With Mbemba still young, he’d have a chance to kickstart his career in the Scottish Premiership.
Able to play across the defence, Mbemba would be an option for Rodgers, who has been using Mikael Lustig, Jozo Šimunović and Kristoffer Ajer.
There’s also other options at Celtic and it’s not too unreasonable to suggest Mbemba would have a similar struggle to get in Rodgers’ team as he does with Rafael Benitez.
