It was a relatively quiet deadline day at Celtic Park with the Scottish champions left wanting in their frantic search for a striker.
Time ran out for Celtic as they chased a replacement for Kyogo Furuhashi after his £10m switch to Stade Rennes with Adam Idah left as the only recognised first-team striker at the club, albeit Johnny Kenny will be his understudy following his return from a loan spell at Shamrock Rovers.
Celtic had been tracking long term target Mathias Kvistgaarden but their interest cooled when Brondby bumped up their valuation to around £14m – while Slovan Bratislava man David Strelec’s £8m price tag was viewed as too steep as well. Deals for Danny Ings and Kelechi Iheanacho failed to get off the ground – leaving Jeffrey Schlupp as the only last-minute recruit on loan from Crystal Palace.
However, it’s not the first time Celtic have seen a deadline day push for a new frontman fall apart. Back in February 2015, the Hoops were on the brink of bringing in Robbie Muirhead from Kilmarnock.
Aged 20, the striker was viewed as a rising star of the Scottish game with the frontman claiming he was “very close” to a move to Glasgow’s east end. However, in the end he would join Dundee United for an six-figure fee.
Asked how close he was to joining the Hoops under Ronny Deila, Muirhead said: “Very close! On deadline day I was sitting in the house all day up until about 9pm thinking I was going to Celtic.
“It was only then that the deal was called off because Celtic had to spend an extra £250,000 on Gary Mackay-Steven. They said they’d leave it until the summer. In the end, I drove to Tannadice and got there at 11.40pm. By 11.52pm I’d signed and they rushed through the paperwork.”
Muirhead joined Livingston last summer after a successful five-year spell with Morton. The 28-year-old has netted nine goals so far this term and is playing a key role in David Martindale’s promotion push.