Celtic agree deal to sign the next Nicholas Kuhn

It was February 2025 when Scottish champions Celtic ran Bayern Munich so agonisingly close in the Champions League play-off round, with Nicolas Kuhn netting the opener on that night in Bavaria.

Just a matter of months later, the Parkhead side had crashed out of the competition before it’d even begun in earnest after their shock defeat to Kairat Almaty, left to rue the decision not to recruit heavily until after the qualification campaign.

The fear will be that the Hoops are heading for a similar scenario this time around, with the new season just a month away and no signings having entered the building so far.

With both Rangers and Hearts carrying out extensive business of their own this summer, Martin O’Neill‘s men already appear to be playing catch-up. And yet, could some positive news be on the horizon soon?

Celtic target now heading to Glasgow to seal summer switch

It says a lot about the Parkhead hierarchy that the only notable business this summer has been to extend Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s contract at the club, even with the Englishman failing to feature at all in the final four Premiership games of the season.

With a raft of loanees all returning to their parent clubs, and with question marks surrounding the likes of Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and Arne Engels, there is a need for a significant overhaul this summer.

One area that does look particularly light is the forward line, with O’Neill believed to be leading the club’s interest in free-scoring Motherwell man, Tawanda Maswanhise.

Whether that move comes to fruition remains to be seen, although one deal that looks to be coming to a conclusion is Celtic’s pursuit of Qarabag star, Camilo Duran.

As per Azerbaijan outlet, Sport Info, the 24-year-old is already on his way to Glasgow to undergo a medical, having agreed a deal with the Premiership side.

The Colombian has agreed to a ‘long-term contract’, believed to be three years plus the option of an extension, while in terms of the transfer fee, the suggestion elsewhere is that he could cost roughly £5.5m.

Why Celtic could be set to sign another Nicolas Kuhn

For all the frustration surrounding Celtic’s recruitment post-Ange Postecoglou, that’s not to say they haven’t still enjoyed the odd success story or two.

Only this season, O’Neill and co reaped the rewards of the club’s £1.7m investment in 21-goal hero, Benjamin Nygren, with the Swede proving another bargain capture in the mould of the aforementioned Kuhn.

Like Duran, Kuhn was 24 when he made the switch from Rapid Vienna in January 2024, joining for a fee of around £3m to bolster Brendan Rodgers’ ranks.

After an initially muted first six months in Glasgow, the German winger came alive in pre-season that summer, prior to registering 36 goals and assists in all competitions in 2024/25.

He had actually only registered 17 goal involvements in 51 games in Austria, yet Celtic took the plunge and were handsomely rewarded, having sold the wide man on to Como on a £16.5m deal last summer.

Hopefully, Duran can prove to be another left-footed superstar at the club, the South American fresh off the back of a creditable season with Qarabag.

While now predominantly deployed as a centre-forward, he does mirror Kuhn as someone who can also be a real threat off the right flank when cutting in onto his favoured foot.

His record too with his current side isn’t too dissimilar to Kuhn’s own return at Vienna, having racked up 25 goals and assists in his first 45 games in Azerbaijan.

Formerly on the books at Portuguese side Portimonense, for whom he scored just five in 30, Duran has really come alive over the last 12 months or so, notably netting five times in last season’s Champions League run.

Across his ten appearances in the competition, he scored a goal every 151 minutes, while impressively only missing three ‘big chances’, boasting a goal conversion rate of 25%.

Again, that record compares favourably to Kuhn’s own tally from the year prior, with 2024/25 seeing the now 26-year-old score three goals, miss just one ‘big chance’ and boast a 38% goal conversion, having scored once every 264 minutes across his ten outings.

What is also to like about Duran is that he can also be a real creative outlet too in the forward line, having chalked up five assists in the league last season, as many as Kuhn recorded in his final half-season in the Austrian Bundesliga.

Whether it is as a winger or a number nine, Duran could well breathe new life into a stuttering Celtic forward line, with this potentially set to mark the perfect way to kick off the summer.