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Rapid Vienna’s sporting director, Marcus Katzer has revealed that the club have previously rejected a £1 million bid for Celtic target Isak Jansson…

The man who played a pivotal role in bringing the Swedish player to the Austrian Bundesliga, has been singing his praises and confirmed that they had already booted a big bid out for Jansson, not long after Rapid has signed him from FC Cartagena.

Katzer admitted the club had to move quicker than they would have liked or expected when Kühn moved to Celtic Park in January of 2024, meaning they couldn’t scout the Swedish star in person and had to rely solely on the data and clips of the winger. Despite this though, he claimed that Jansson did not disappoint and was exactly what the doctor ordered for his manager.

Speaking on the move, he said: “We needed a replacement for Nicolas Kuhn after he signed for Celtic. We asked our manager what type of player he was looking for in particular and he told us he wanted someone who could beat a man, one-on-one. We did a wide data search across our target markets and in terms of dribbling and taking on players, Jansson appeared in the top three,” he said, as reported by Daily Record.

“We looked at a lot of his videos and he was exactly what we wanted. Usually, we would watch a player live, but with the timescale and the closing of the transfer window, we had no time and had to trust the data.

“The risk was relatively low because we also know that in eight to nine out of ten cases, the impressions from video scouting are confirmed during live scouting. And with Jansson, it wasn’t a risk at all because we first agreed on a free loan first and then a small transfer fee of £200,000.”

The man who is charged with recruitment and aiding the football operation also explained that they had previously knocked back a £1 million offer just after he signed, but they rejected outright, claiming they are looking a much more than that to part way with the Celtic target.

“One week after we exercised the purchase option in the season, we had an offer of more than £1 million on the table,” Katzer added. “He will clearly be transferred for many times what we paid for him. He has been an amazing success for us.”

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This article first appeared on The Celtic Star and was syndicated with permission.

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