With the permanent arrival of Cameron Carter-Vickers heralding the end of that particular transfer speculation, news has just broken in the German media that will leave Celtic fans disappointed at the clubs failure to bring their other central defensive target.
Ko Itakura was being tipped for a move to Paradise this summer and as Vital Celtic reported yesterday, it did seem like the Hoops were looking at a loan to buy option for the Japanese international.
But a report just breaking this afternoon has revealed that Bundesliga giants, Borussia Monchengladbach are about to confirm the signing of the long sough after defender on a four year deal.
Die Gespräche sind weit fortgeschritten: #S04-Aufstiegsheld Ko Itakura steht vor einem Wechsel zu Gladbach. Unterschriftsreifer Vertrag über 4 Jahre liegt vor. Noch Details zu klären. @SPORT1 https://t.co/H2shITBTXa
— Patrick Berger (@berger_pj) June 17, 2022
Translated: “The talks are well advanced: #S04 -promotion hero Ko Itakura is about to move to Gladbach.
“Contract ready to be signed for 4 years is available. Still details to be clarified.
No one at Celtic Park has said at anytime Celtic were after this player. The usual Scottish media rubbish. He’s Japanese so Celtic must be after him, lazy journalism. The guy played in the Bundesliga last season so it was pretty obvious if he got an offer from a club in Germany he would go for it.
Of course no one at Celtic said they were after him. They never do! The point is, he has been heavily linked with a move to the club. He almost signed for us last summer as well. It was a natural link unlike some of the utter garbage I’ve read over the last few weeks.