Junior Adamu left out of Freiburg matchday squad as Celtic transfer now imminent
Celtic now appear to be within touching distance of completing the signing of Freiburg forward Junior Adamu before Monday’s transfer deadline.
The Bhoys find themselves locked in a three-horse race for the Premiership title alongside Hearts and Rangers, and are desperately trying to strengthen their hand for the run-in at the end of the season.
Celtic are advancing in talks for Joel Mvuka from Lorient, and a move for Adamu has now swiftly emerged in the pipeline.
Martin O’Neill has remained keen to add to his attack regardless of the arrival of Tomas Cvancara, and he could now be just hours away from getting his wish after developments on Sunday.
Junior Adamu’s Freiburg absence confirmed as Celtic medical booked in
Celtic reached a verbal agreement with Adamu on Sunday, and his medical has already been booked in ahead of an imminent move to Glasgow.
The two clubs are still ironing out the finer details of the transfer, but it has been suggested that the player is already travelling to Scotland to complete his medical checks ahead of the move.
Florian Plettenberg previously reported that there was still a potential that the deal could be hijacked by other clubs, but that looks highly unlikely now amid news of Adamu’s absence.
Freiburg have travelled to face Stuttgart in the Bundesliga on Sunday afternoon, and the Austrian has been left out of the matchday squad altogether by manager Julian Schuster.
Adamu started in the Europa League defeat away at Lille on Thursday afternoon, meaning that his absence this weekend is surely an indication that his move to Celtic will now be confirmed imminently.
Junior Adamu deal has the potential to finish Sebastian Tounekti
Football Insider revealed on Friday that Celtic do not want to lose Sebastian Tounekti in the latter stages of the winter transfer window, despite recent interest from Hamburg.
The Tunisian appears set to stay at Parkhead for now, but the arrival of Adamu could effectively put the writing on the wall in terms of his long-term future with the club.
O’Neill has often opted to start Daizen Maeda on the left wing of late, and with a new striker set to come through the door, it is likely that this will become increasingly common moving forward.
Tounekti has operated in that position regularly so far this term, but has struggled to find consistency, and simply should not usurp Maeda to get into the starting XI.
With that in mind, the 23-year-old may find opportunities to impress increasingly hard to come by in the second half of the season, especially since there is huge pressure on every league game due to the state of the title race.
He hasn’t really had the desired impact since his arrival in the summer, and further additions to Celtic’s attack could spell the end of his long-term future with the club.