It is set to be a very busy final few days of the transfer market for Celtic.
Tuesday night’s Champions League play-off exit at the hands of Kairat brought into sharp focus the Hoops’ lack of quality and depth, something they desperately need to address before the window slams shut on Monday.
Well, it appears as though the Scottish Premiership champions are going to sign Michel-Ange Balikwisha from Antwerp for around £4.5m, while they’ve also had a bid rejected for another winger, namely Sebastian Tounekti of Hammarby.
However, there are plenty of other areas of the team that need addressing, so could the Celts bolster their back-line too?
Celtic's need for greater squad depth
Fans’ favourite Kieran Tierney returned to Celtic this summer too much excitement, but his minutes are being managed.
So far, Tierney has started five of Celtic’s six matches this season, rested against Livingston last weekend, along with many other players, given that it came in-between the two legs with Kairat.
In all five of his starts, Tierney has been substituted between the 63rd and 76th minute, with Brendan Rodgers being ultra-cautious given his injury history, most commonly replaced by Auston Trusty, with centre-back Liam Scales subsequently shifting over to left-back.
The most natural deputy is Hayato Inamura, debuting against Livingston on Saturday, but Rodgers has stated publicly that he doesn’t believe the 23-year-old, who has joined from Albirex Niigata, is ready to be a regular first-team figure just yet.
Thus, Anthony Joseph of Sky Sports News reported a few days ago that Celtic were “close to agreeing” a deal to sign Marcelo Saracchi from Boca Juniors; the transfer would be a loan with a £2m option to buy.
However, the Hoops might just be turning their attention to other targets, because journalist Jeroen Kapteijns is reporting that Celtic are “interested” in signing Anass Salah-Eddine.
They mention that PSV Eindhoven, Nottingham Forest, Porto, Lille, Torino and Werder Bremen are also in the race for the 23-year-old Roma defender, who is available on loan.
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So, should the Celts snap up the Dutchman, rather than Saracchi?
Why Celtic should sign Anass Salah-Eddine
Salah-Eddine joined Roma as recently as January, but safe to say he’s not had the best time in the Eternal City.
Despite the fact the Giallorossi paid £9m to secure his signature, the left-back made just three appearances for them last season, totalling a miserly 153 minutes, remaining an unused substitute for the other 12 Serie A matches.
A change of manager at the Stadio Olimpico has actually only worsened Salah-Eddine’s situation, emphatically not in Gian Piero Gasperini’s plans, underlined by the fact he wasn’t even on the bench for Roma’s Serie A opener against Bologna on Saturday.
However, before this, he was a highly-rated prospect in the Netherlands, coming through Ajax’s academy, before his real senior breakthrough came at Twente, appearing 52 times for the Enschede-based side, including starting all eight of their Europa League league phase matches last season, registering assists against both Nice and Beşiktaş.
Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout is certainly a fan, labelling him “technically gifted”, adding that he was amongst the “most talented” young players in the Eredivisie.
So how does his career compare to that of Saracchi? As the table documents, Saracchi is the vastly more experienced of the pair, but is his career on the way down?
Age
23
27
Clubs
3
6
Senior appearances
65
245
International caps
Zero
9
Apps since 1 Jan ’24
38
36
Starts since 1 Jan ’24
28
23
After leaving River Plate in 2018, the Uruguayan international has spent time at RB Leipzig, Galatasaray and Levante, without ever making more than 44 appearances for any of them, returning to Argentina to join Boca Juniors two years ago, but he’s not been a regular starter for them either, seeing just ten minutes of playing time during the Club World Cup.
South American football expert Tim Vickery notes that, when he first broke into Danubio’s first team, there were “immense hopes” placed upon him, but he’s “bounced around” and been a bit of a “disappointment” thus far, yet to truly fulfil his potential.
Thus, signing Saracchi has to be viewed as a gamble, considering he’s played just 605 minutes in 2025, starting only seven times.
In fairness, it’s been a pretty miserable year for Salah-Eddine at Roma too, as already outlined, but the Dutchman was performing at Europa League level, where Celtic find themselves, this time last year when he was still a Twente player.
Also, given that the Dutchman is four years younger, he surely has more room to develop and improve, suggesting he would be the shrewder addition.