Khun to Brentford rumour opens door for Ajer returning to Celtic

The Bees are apparently holding out for a figure of £55m for the player but it seems there is an appetite from both the player and the buying club to get this deal done – and Brentford rarely stand in the way of players who are looking for a big move as they are sold on the player trading model when signing on with the club (as indeed happens at Celtic).

During the transfer window in January, Celtic sold Kyogo to Rennes and bought Jota back to Celtic from the same club. It seems there was a two way discussion during that deal which amounted to almost a like for like trade, although it seems Celtic may have paid a little less for Jota than Rennes paid for Kyogo.

That may be a tactic worth revisiting for Celtic, as back in January there were plenty of rumours flying around the Celtic support that Kris Ajer and Brendan Rodgers had been in discussions about a return to the club. Now nothing came of that in January but now the season has ended, could that be something Celtic could revisit?

Kris Ajer is far from out the picture at Brentford but he has become something of a utility player and more a squad player than a regular starter.

In the EPL last season Kris Ajer played 1443 minutes and made a total of just 24 appearances, playing across five different positions. At the age of 27 now and with 42 caps for his country, it may well be the ideal time for Celtic to test the water, should the pieces fall into place and Mbueno heads to Old Trafford – and assuming reports are correct and our German winger fancies a crack at a top five league.

I would be sorry to see Nicolas Kühn leave Celtic, given his goals and assists would be tough to replace but also because in the Champions League he very much stood out as shining in Europe’s top competition, but after that goal in Munich, that had us all dreaming of knocking Bayern Munich out in their own back yard, it’s probably fair to say the wide-man’s form dropped of – and significantly so.

There could of course be a multitude of reasons for that. He may be a streaky player, as we saw in his first season at Celtic compared to how he started the second. He could have been hankering after a January transfer window move and been told to hang on until the summer, or it could simply be he was confused at Celtic selling their top striker in the January window and not replacing him. After all, if you think that sort of thing annoys fans imagine the message it sends out to the dressing room and players with ambition.

If Kühn does move on I don’t think it will come as much of a surprise to anyone, but if Celtic could engineer a deal which included Kris Ajer heading in the opposite direction, perhaps that would help soften the blow?

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