It is no secret that Celtic will be in the market to add a new centre-forward to their squad when the summer transfer window officially opens for business this month.
The Hoops recently confirmed the appointment of Martin O’Neill on a one-year deal, with an option to extend it a further year, after he led the team to the Scottish Premiership title and the SFA Cup in the second half of this season.
They can now begin to put their transfer plans together in an attempt to improve the squad now that they know who their permanent manager will be for the 2026/27 campaign.
A new striker will be on the agenda because Kelechi Iheanacho’s contract is due to expire, Junior Adamu has returned to Freiburg, and Tomas Cvancara has returned to Borussia Monchengladbach.
During his time on loan from the German side, the Czechia international scored two goals and provided two assists in 13 appearances in all competitions.
Celtic lining up Martin O’Neill’s first signing
The 25-year-old number nine only scored one non-penalty goal in those 13 games for the Scottish giants, and they are not set to activate their option to sign him on a permanent basis.
Now, the Premiership champions are looking at a player who could arrive at Parkhead as an upgrade on Cvancara at the top end of the pitch next season.
According to Football Insider, Celtic are lining up a move to sign Aarau FC centre-forward Elias Filet in the upcoming summer transfer window.
The report claims that O’Neill wants to add more physicality to his team ahead of the 2026/27 campaign and that they could see a “cheap” offer accepted for the Frenchman, because he only has a year left on his contract.
It adds that the the Scottish giants could be about to accelerate their efforts to add the 24-year-old star to their squad, potentially becoming O’Neill’s first signing of the summer window.
Speaking to Football Insider, journalist Pete O’Rourke described Filet as a “dominant” frontman who is the exact type of number nine wanted by the manager this summer.
Why Elias Filet would be better than Tomas Cvancara for Celtic
Cvancara was a curious signing when the Hoops brought him to Parkhead in the January transfer window, because he arrived at the club without a strong goal record behind him.
The Czechia international scored one goal in the first half of the season and only scored eight goals in 54 games in the 2023/24 and 2024/25 campaigns combined.
He also has never scored more than 12 goals in a single season at senior level in his career, now 25 years old, and that is why it was not a surprise when he failed to find the back of the net on a consistent basis during his time on loan at Celtic this year.
Filet, though, scored 22 goals in all competitions for Aarau in the 2025/26 campaign, including 20 goals in 35 appearances in the Challenge League for the Swiss outfit.
His record in front of goal was also even better than Celtic’s top scorer Daizen Maeda’s, as the Japan international scored 14 goals in the Premiership, missing 23 ‘big chances’ with a conversion rate of 20%.
Kai Watson, who runs Analysing the Scottish Premiership on X, claimed that Celtic would be “finally replacing Giorgos Giakoumakis” by signing Filet because he is a “classic penalty box striker”, who scored all 20 of his league goals without taking a penalty.Giakoumakis was a lethal centre-forward for Ange Postecoglou during his time at Parkhead, scoring 26 goals in 57 appearances for the Scottish giants, despite often finding himself on the bench behind Kyogo Furuhashi.
Only one of the Greek international’s 26 goals for Celtic came from the penalty spot, as he thrived from open play in the box, and Filet appears to have the potential to be a similar kind of player for O’Neil.
Like Giakoumakis, the French star is a tall and physical number nine who wins the majority of his aerial duels, as evidenced by his 60% aerial duel success rate in the league this season, to be a focal point for the team up front.
He adds quality as well as physicality, though, as his 22-goal haul and impressive conversion rate suggest that he can offer significantly more in front of goal than Cvancara did during his short stint at Parkhead.
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