Rodgers could supercharge Palma as Celtic eye swoop for £2.8k-p/w whiz

Rodgers could supercharge Palma as Celtic eye swoop for £2.8k-p/w whiz

Celtic officially completed their first piece of incoming business during the January transfer window on Tuesday as they announced the signing of Nicolas Kuhn.

The 24-year-old forward has been signed from Austrian side Rapid Wien on a five-and-a-half-year deal for a reported to be within the region of £3m.

23/24 Bundesliga

Nicolas Kuhn (via Sofascore)

Appearances

16

Goals

Two

Assists

Five

Big chances created

11

Sofascore rating

7.22

There are still around two weeks left to go before the window slams shut and the Hoops are reportedly in the market to make further additions to their squad.

Football Insider recently reported that Brendan Rodgers would like to bring in three signings on top of the deal to snap Kuhn up from Austria.

The former Leicester City boss has identified three other positions that need to be addressed; goalkeeper, left-back, and centre-forward ahead of the second half of the campaign.

Celtic’s search for a left-back

According to FootballScotland, the Hoops are interested in a swoop to sign impressive young full-back Owen Beck from Premier League side Liverpool.

The report claims that the talented youngster, who spent the first half of the season on loan with Dundee, has been on the club’s radar since October.

It states that the Bhoys remain keen on a deal for the Reds academy graduate but look set to be made to wait as Jurgen Klopp weighs up the best way to go about dealing with his left-back situation.

Kostas Tsimikas and Andrew Robertson are currently out injured and this has left the German head coach with a dearth of options in that position, which has forced Joe Gomez to be deployed there in recent weeks.

Liverpool recalled Beck from his loan spell from Dundee to provide much-needed cover for their first-team. However, FootballScotland add that the Europa League side could send him back out on loan if Robertson or Tsimikas return before the end of the month.

This suggests that Celtic could have an opportunity to snap up the Welsh dynamo to bolster their left-hand side before the transfer window slams shut, if they remain patient.

A potential issue with that is that the Hoops could wait until near deadline day and then be left scrambling around to sign an alternative if Liverpool ultimately decide that they would rather keep Beck at Anfield until the end of the season.

The report also claims that fellow Scottish side Glasgow Rangers are also eyeing up the 21-year-old prospect, which means that there could be competition to land his signature if he does become available for a loan or permanent transfer.

If Rodgers and Celtic are able to snap up Beck to add to their left-back options before the window slams shut, the Liverpool whiz could supercharge current Hoops forward Luis Palma.

Luis Palma’s outstanding start to life in Scotland

The Honduras international has made 21 of his 22 Celtic appearances on the left flank and this means that he would line up ahead of the Reds youngster in the team.

Palma joined from Aris ahead of the 2023/24 campaign after an impressive season with the Greek side as a scorer of goals from the flank.

He produced 11 goals and four assists in 20 league appearances for the club and that convinced the Hoops to swoop to secure his services last summer.

Since his move to Parkhead, the 24-year-old whiz has been electric on the wing for the Scottish giants with his ability to score and create goals at an excellent rate.

Only three players – David Turnbull (seven), Kyogo Furuhashi (eight), and Matt O’Riley (ten) – have scored more Scottish Premiership goals than Palma (five) for Celtic this season.

Meanwhile, no Hoops player has provided more assists than the impressive forward (nine) as he has been Rodgers’ biggest creative threat at the top end of the pitch.

The former Aris star has racked up nine assists, 11 ‘big chances’ created, and 3.4 key passes per game across 17 appearances and 14 starts in the top-flight so far.

Palma is capable of the spectacular and has been a consistent contributor in the final third. However, Rodgers could supercharge his star forward by signing Beck to bolster the attacking quality down the left flank.

Why Beck could help to supercharge Palma

The 21-year-old whiz is already a proven Premiership performer, thanks to his loan spell with Dundee, and could hit the ground running at Parkhead as he already knows the division and has performed to a high level in it.

Beck caught the eye with his marauding displays down the left wing for the Scottish outfit as he showcased his quality in and out of possession.

Defensively, the £2.8k-per-week talent produced consistently solid performances with 2.9 tackles and 1.3 interceptions per match. No current Celtic full-back has averaged more than 2.1 tackles or 0.4 interceptions per game in the Premiership this season.

This suggests that the Liverpool prodigy could cut out more opposition attacks to win possession back for his side in comparison to the likes of Alistair Johnston and Greg Taylor, which could create more counter-attacking opportunities for Palma to stretch his legs and cause havoc in transition with his creative brilliance.

Beck, who was once hailed as “spectacular” by scout Jacek Kulig, could also provide quality in possession and help the winger by offering a threat at the top end of the pitch that could attract more attention from opposition defenders and open up more space for the right-footed left forward to cut inside.

23/24 Premiership

Owen Beck

Greg Taylor

Touches per game

55.5

99.5

Key passes per game

2.0

1.9

Crossing accuracy

31%

15%

Dribbles completed per game

1.4

0.6

As you can see in the table above, the former Dundee star created more chances, completed more dribbles, and was far more effective as a crosser despite almost having half as many touches of the ball per match as Taylor.

Imagine what Beck could do if he had 44 more touches per game for Celtic than he had during the first half of the season in the Premiership.

His attacking output could be staggering and that is another reason why the Hoops target could supercharge Palma as the left-back could create a high volume of chances for the winger to add to his goal tally and climb the ranks within the squad, ahead of the likes of Turnbull, Kyogo, and O’Riley.