Celtic edging closer to securing Kuhn as first January signing
Celtic are closing in on their first signing of the January transfer window as negotiations continue with Rapid Vienna for winger Nicolas Kuhn.
The Parkhead side opened formal discussions with the Austrian club earlier this week over a move for the 24-yearold German, having tracked his progress over a number of months.
Rapid are reported to be seeking a fee in the region of €3 million for a player who has scored three goals and contributed seven assists in 22 appearances this season.
Kuhn spent three years in the RB Leipzig youth ranks before earning a €2m move to Ajax at the age of 18. He played for the Amsterdam side's second team before being signed by Bayern Munich, initially on loan, in 2020.
The attacker, who has played for Germany at every youth level up to Under-20s, was a regular in Bayern’s second team until 2022 when he made the move to Austria.
His performances for Germany at the Under-17 World Cup held in India in 2017 led to him being labelled the “next Messi” by the German press.
Rapid sporting director Markus Katzer confirmed that his club have received offers for the player, stating: “In principle, I don’t want to comment on any rumours. But I can confirm that we actually have concrete offers on the table for Nicolas Kuhn, but I don’t want to name the interested clubs.”
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has expressed a desire to add quality to his ranks for the second half of the season with several players set to be missing when the squad returns from the winter break.
Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate, Marco Tilio, Hyun-jun Yang and Hyeon-gyu Oh are all on international duty at the Asian Cup, while Nat Phillips has returned to Liverpool at the end of his loan deal.
Yosuke Ideguchi completed a move to Vissel Kobe earlier this week, having spent the last year on loan in Japan, while defender Gustaf Lagerbielke is the subject of a loan bid from Serie A side Lecce.
Further departures are possible this month as Rodgers looks to trim his squad to make way for potentially three arrivals – a left-back, striker, and a winger, who now looks likely to be Kuhn.
It was April last year and though someone desperately needed to speak to Brendan Rodgers, it wasn’t Dermot Desmond.
Not yet at least. Rumours were already swirling about Ange Postecoglou’s long-term future at Celtic, hence majority shareholder Desmond preparing to flick through his Filofax in search of Rodgers' number. But Stephen Dobbie was not interested in assessing the Northern Irishman's desire to step back into the managerial ring. He wanted to pick the then out-of-work Rodgers' brains.
Indeed, Rodgers was the first person Dobbie thought of speaking to when he was installed as interim manager at Blackpool following
Mick Mccarthy’s departure.
“He was my first call,” recalled Dobbie. "I asked him what he thought, how should I approach it and that kind of thing. Anything I ever need coaching-wise, Brendan's always been at the end of the phone for me, which is fantastic. He's brilliant and that's testament to the kind of guy he is."
Rodgers’ expertise clearly helped because blackpool won three of their last five matches. But it still wasn’t enough to avoid relegation to league one. Dobbie has since returned to his role as development coach at Blackpool although he took time out last weekend to take part in his own testimonial at Queen of the South, where the former striker remains a revered figure.
A Scotland Select side including Scott Brown and Kenny Miller beat Dobbie’s Queens team 6-2, with the man of the moment scoring from the spot.
Dobbie’ s ambition snow lie on the coaching and managerial front. He stressed that he could not have asked for a better mentor than Rodgers, under whom he worked at Swansea.
The Northern Irishman left Wales for Liverpool, where he came close to winning the English title. Although Rodgershas insisted that the only way he will leave Celtic again is if he’s axed, Dobbie is confident his old manager will return to the top end of the englishgame at some point. “When he came in at Swansea he changed the whole dynamic of the club and obviously where we got to was brilliant,” recalled Dobbie. “It's no surprise to me he went on to Liverpool. I believe he'll go even higher again than Celtic.”
Dobbie credits Rodgers
for the positional tweak that helped him enjoy such a long and fruitful career. He eventually hung up his boots at the age of 39 after a season at AFC Flyde. The Scot, who started his career at Rangers, scored an incredible 166 goals in 283 appearances for Queen of the South having netted regularly elsewhere, including for Blackpool.
“He knows a lot about football, especially the little details,” said Dobbie. “Obviously I was a striker and he
ended up putting me back into number 10 because he just knew how to get the best out of me and each individual player."
Dobbie rates Rodgers alongside Ian Holloway at Blackpool as the best he’s worked with in terms of man management. he has determined to utilise what he learned from both when he eventually becomes his own man again, having enjoyed his short spell in the hot seat at Blackpool. “I'd definitely like to take that jump,” he said.