Why £7m Celtic target would be the most important signing since Kuhn

Celtic know that they need to improve the quality of their squad after they almost missed out on winning the Scottish Premiership in the 2025/26 campaign.

Martin O’Neill‘s side needed to beat Hearts at Parkhead on the final day of the season to avoid losing their crown, and they will not want it to be as close next time around.

Camilo Duran has already been brought in to bolster the team’s attack, signing from Qarabag for a fee of £6m after he scored 15 goals in all competitions last term.

The Scottish giants need to do more than strengthen their attack, though, as they need to be looking at signings for several positions across the pitch.

What is Celtic’s priority this summer?

In recent windows, Celtic have looked to the forward areas to make transformational signings. Benjamin Nygren, who scored 16 league goals last term, and Nicolas Kuhn are two attacking talents who come to mind in that sense.

This summer, though, the Hoops need to make a transformational signing for their defence after they conceded 41 goals in 38 matches in the league, and 15 goals in eight games in the Europa League.

The Scottish giants only conceded 26 goals in their 38 games in the Premiership in the 2024/25 campaign under Brendan Rodgers, which highlights the big drop-off at the back between that season and last term.

Celtic conceded more goals last season than they did in any of the previous six campaigns, which speaks to how disappointing their defence was under O’Neill.

That is why the Hoops should invest significant money into their backline to ensure that they do not leak as many goals as they did in the 2025/26 campaign, both domestically and on the European stage.

Celtic have made multiple bids to seal new signing

As aforementioned, Celtic have previously made transformational signings for their attack, like Kuhn, but now they are looking at a goalkeeper who could be their most important signing since they landed the German winger from Rapid Vienna.

Journalist George Tsarouchas reports that Celtic are one of the teams interested in a deal to sign Las Palmas goalkeeper Dinko Horkas in the summer transfer window.

The reporter claims that the Hoops have already made two offers that have been rejected in an attempt to land the Croatian stopper, whilst Sevilla have also enquired about a move.

Tsarouchas adds that the Las Palmas star has asked to explore a move away from the Spanish side this summer and that he could be sold for a fee of up to £7m.

Celtic should make a third offer and match the asking price for Horkas because he could be their most important and best signing since Kuhn, who produced 42 goals and assists in just 18 months at Parkhead.

The Hoops need a new goalkeeper after Kasper Schmeichel retired and Viljami Sinisalo failed to prove that he can be the undisputed number one, keeping one clean sheet in 12 Premiership matches last term.

Sinisalo conceded 1.59 more goals than expected, based on the xG against his goal, and Schmeichel conceded 2.96 more than expected in the Premiership, showing that both players underperformed as shot-stoppers.

Horkas, meanwhile, prevented 3.72 more goals than expected in 41 matches in LaLiga 2 for Las Palmas last term, and 0.27 goals in 13 outings in LaLiga in the 2024/25 campaign.

The Croatian star kept 13 clean sheets in the second division of Spanish football last term, as many as Schmeichel and Sinisalo managed combined, and was a positive for his team as a shot-stopper, rather than letting his side down.

His impressive shot-stopping statistics suggest that he could be a transformational signing for Celtic’s backline because he has the quality to bail his defence out of trouble with high-quality saves.

Whereas, Sinisalo and Schmeichel conceded even more goals than they should have done from the chances that the defence gave up, which suggests that Celtic conceded more goals than they deserved to.

Horkas could be an incredibly important addition to the squad, therefore, and possibly the most impactful signing since Kuhn, because of the significant lift that he could give the side from a defensive perspective.