Ange Postecoglou is well and truly underway with his Celtic rebuild, with rumour boards, exclusives and journalists alike all being awash with speculation just a month after his tenure started.
Recent strong links have included the likes of Aaron Hickey, Kenneth Paal and George Baldock for the vacant right-back position; somewhere Celtic need to fill rapidly following the exit of Jeremy Frimpong and Jonjoe Kenny’s expired loan.
However, following the losses of Armstrong Oko-Flex, Moi Elyounoussi and Cameron Harper – alongside the speculated further losses of Karamoko Dembele and Marian Shved – it appears that Celtic are itching to sign a winger too, which may just come in the form of free agent Kyle Edwards.
Edwards, 23, grew up in the ranks at West Bromwich Albion from the age of just six, and ended up scoring 4 goals in 49 appearances for The Baggies. However, following their disappointing Premier League campaign, where they won just 5 games from a possible 38 – the joint lowest in the division – newly appointed boss Valerien Ismael has commenced with a mass exodus at The Hawthorns, with Edwards being one of the unlucky few to be chucked onto the scrapheap of free agents.
Edwards was previously linked on loan just before Christmas, before Neil Lennon’s side capitulated following the Dubai debacle.
And, according to Football Insider, they exclusively revealed that Celtic have opened talks to sign Edwards following his newfound unattached status. Similar to the Liam Shaw and Osaze Urhoghide deals, Celtic will have to pay a fee of compensation for the winger as he falls into the under-24 category in which a tribunal must be held. However, as the deal would be cross-border, The Hoops’ would only have to pay a fee of around £300,000 for Edwards; a relative steal given his ability.
That being said, Edwards’ goalscoring record isn’t one to be amazed at in general; as a forward for a side who dominated the Championship across the two years he played for the first team, you would expect a better goal-haul from the Englishman.
However, the trend under Ange Postecoglou seems to be building a solid young team via taking advantage of the cross-border compensation ‘loophole’; long may it continue.
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