Obstacles to overcome ahead of Kristoffer Ajer’s Celtic return

The big Norwegian signed as a 17 year old by Ronny Delia became a regular fixture in the side under Brendan Rodgers and Neil Lennon before moving to Brentford in 2021 for a fee believed to in the region of £14 million.

Ajer needs game-time to keep World Cup dream alive 

Kristoffer has featured a lot in the Brentford first team since his move from Celtic, but last season saw the towering centre back frequently benched or utilised at right back which led to his national boss Stale Solbakken advising the former Celt to consider making a move away from The Bees, as reported on The Celtic Star.

That has led to increased speculation on a return to Celtic who are looking to strengthen the defensive areas, and with Brendan well aware of Kristoffer’s capabilities, it’s not really a surprise.

However if any move were to materialise it may have to be a loan deal due to the player under contract at Brentford until 2028, not to mention his salary which goes without saying will be much higher than it was during his spell in Glasgow.

Brentford boss heading to Spurs to replace Ange Postecoglou 

The other factor to consider is that current Brentford boss Thomas Frank is heavily linked with a move to replace Ange Postecoglou at Spurs, so any new potential replacement would naturally re-valuate his new squad. The incoming Brentford boss would be made aware of Kris Ajer’s own concerns and his international manager’s advice ahead of the World Cup next summer.

Brentford’s business model is to buy and develop players and sell-on at a profit, similar indeed to Celtic’s. That doesn’t appear to have had much success as far as Kristoffer Ajer is concerned although he has made a significant impact in their team. With no real prospect of a big money transfer Brentford might be interested in cutting their losses and recouping some of the transfer fee.

Celtic paid £6m for Auston Trusty last summer

Celtic did pay £6m for Auston Trusty last summer from Sheffield United and you can’t imagine Celtic looking at much higher than that to bring Ajer up the road. And Brendan Rodgers would be back to having to discuss game-time with all of Celtic’s current central defenders having hopes of playing in the World Cup, as indeed does Kris Ajer.  For that they’ll all need game-time, tough job this management game!

Kris Ajer would only be coming back to play as a first pick centre half.

So whilst it makes for good headlines, there’s still plenty of obstacles to overcome if any move for the player is to happen.