An update has emerged on Celtic and their plans to bolster the playing squad before the end of the summer transfer window…
What's the latest Celtic transfer news?
According to FootballTransfers, the Hoops are one of the clubs eyeing up a swoop to sign West Ham United centre-forward Michail Antonio.
The report claims that English Championship side Leeds United are also in the market to land the Jamaica international as they look to improve their forward options.
It states that the former Sheffield Wednesday attacker is keen on a move away from the London Stadium but will not be allowed to leave until David Moyes is able to bring in a replacement.
There is no mention of exactly how much the Hammers would demand for his services but the outlet does state that the no.9 has one year left on his contract and would not command a significant fee.
How good is Michail Antonio?
Brendan Rodgers could finally replace Giorgos Giakoumakis for Celtic by securing a deal to sign Antonio before the deadline passes at the start of next month.
The Hammers marksman has proven himself to be a reliable Premier League goalscorer and could, therefore, thrive in the Scottish Premiership against lesser-quality opposition, given that England has the highest UEFA club coefficient – eight places ahead of Scotland.
Antonio has racked up ten top-flight strikes in three of his last four seasons and assisted 11 goals in those campaigns combined, whilst only Jota and Kyogo Furuhashi managed more than ten in the league last term for the Hoops.
Giakoumakis scored 15 goals in 35 league games for the Bhoys and the West Ham powerhouse could produce a similar level of production at the top end of the pitch if the drop-down in quality allows him to improve upon his regular ten-goal hauls.
The Greek international moved on from Parkhead to sign for Atlanta United in February and the Hoops have been left with two senior centre-forward options since then – Kyogo and Hyeon-gyu Oh.
Giakoumakis provided the club with a different profile up front to complement Kyogo as the 28-year-old ace offered a level of physicality that the Japan international was unable to.
The former VVV-Venlo star came out on top in at least 1.1 aerial battles per match across his two Premiership seasons and won at least 51% of his battles in the air during that period, as per Sofascore.
Whereas, Kyogo, who stands at 5 foot 7, won 0.2 or fewer aerial contests per game over the 2021/22 and 2022/23 league campaigns and lost a whopping 87% of his duels in the air last term, also per Sofascore.
Antonio could replace the physicality that came with Giakoumakis as the English-born talent has won an impressive 2.4 aerial battles per outing over the course of his career, which shows that he is able to compete with opposition defenders when Celtic need an out ball to relieve pressure.
This suggests that the 33-year-old gem, who Brentford boss Thomas Frank claimed is "a handful" and is "a little bit like Lukaku", has the physical and goalscoring attributes to finally replace the Greek finisher at Paradise this season.
Antonio could be an excellent option to compete with Kyogo and Oh and the £69k-per-week bulldozer knows what it takes to be successful in Europe as the impressive forward scored six goals in seven Europa Conference League matches as his side won the competition last term.
