Martin O’Neill returned to Celtic, after they parted ways with Wilfried Nancy earlier this month. It may have been preferable to put the Nancy period down as a bad dream, but ther’es real damager been done by poor results.
Celtic find themselves third in the Scottish Premiership, lower than they likely would have been had O’Neill stayed. On Saturday, the semi-new era began with a 4-0 victory over Dundee United.
Yang Hyun-jun, Arne Engels, Benjamin Nygren and Daizen Maeda scored for Celtic as they turned a nightmare into optimism.
O’Neill will now be in charge at Celtic Park until at least the end of this season.
The manager currently has several options in attack, including Daizen Maeda. On Boxing Day, claims from Turkey reported Trabzonspor have identified him as a surprise target for the winter market.
Celtic aim to keep Maeda and are also looking to new options in the market. They have FC Nantes’ Mohamed Bamba on their agenda for January.
That’s according to Ouest-France, who cover the Scottish club’s interest in the striker.
The Ivorian has played 722 minutes from 16 matches across all competitions this season, scoring three goals and contributing two assists. He wasn’t in the squad for Nantes’ Coupe de France win over Hauts Lyonnais at the weekend.
Celtic advance for 24-year-old’s transfer
Celtic are ready to offer him an escape route and made advances to add the 24-year-old to O’Neill’s squad.
According to the newspaper, the Bhoys have made an offer to secure Bamba’s services on loan with an option to buy. Bamba was pulled from the squad as some sort of squad ‘sanction’.
Ouest-France make no mention of whether Bamba is open to making a switch to Celtic Park. Having dropped down the pecking order at Nantes, he will likely be tempted to move elsewhere this month.
And Celtic is now a much more attractive proposition than it was a few weeks ago. This one can move quickly.
