Celtic are closing in on a marquee addition to their first-team squad ahead of the season opener against Dundee in the Scottish Premiership next week.
The Hoops have reached an agreement with Bodo/Glimt to sign centre-forward Kasper Hogh in a deal that could be worth in excess of £11m with add-ons.
He is now set to undergo a medical and complete the remaining formalities before being announced as the club’s latest signing of the summer transfer window.
The Denmark international is due to become the second centre-forward added to the squad, though, after the Hoops signed Camilo Duran from Qarabag for a fee of £6m earlier this month.
Why Hogh will win the race with Duran to start for Celtic
Whilst the Colombian attacker is capable of playing out wide, his preferred role is as a number nine and he will mainly be competing with Hogh for a starting berth in Martin O’Neill‘s 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 system.
That means that there will be a race on between the two players to lead the line from the start when the Hoops take on Dundee at Parkhead next Monday.
Duran has scored in three successive friendlies for the Scottish giants, including the 2-2 draw with AC Milan on Saturday, but that does not mean that he is the frontrunner for the position.
The 24-year-old attacker scored nine goals and provided five assists in 30 appearances for Qarabag in the Misli Premier League last term, falling just short of double figures for goals.
|
2025 Eliteserien top scorers |
|
|---|---|
|
Player |
Goals |
|
Daniel Karlsbakk |
18 |
|
Kasper Hogh |
17 |
|
Stefan Sigurdsson |
15 |
|
Dino Islamovic |
14 |
|
Peter Christiansen |
14 |
|
Ieltsin Camoes |
13 |
|
Elias Sorensen |
12 |
Hogh, meanwhile, netted 17 times in the Eliteserien in the 2025 campaign, one goal shy of the Golden Boot, and is set to leave Bodo/Glimt as the joint-leading scorer in the division with seven goals in 12 games in 2026.
The 25-year-old number nine, therefore, could offer an even greater threat in front of goal as a natural scorer in comparison to Duran, which is why he may get the nod to be the first-choice starter up front for the Premiership champions.
The signing Celtic can make to help Hogh explode
Both Hogh and Duran need chances to score goals, though, and the club are pushing to bring in a wide player who could help their marquee signing to explode in the final third.
TEAMtalk reports that Celtic are in talks to sign Real Oviedo right winger Haissem Hassan to bolster their squad in the summer transfer window.
The outlet claims that the Hoops are optimistic that they will be able to get a deal over the line for the Egypt international, in a move that is expected to be worth up to £8m.
It adds that the forward has already agreed personal terms with the Scottish giants and is ready to sign a four-year contract with the club if the two teams can reach an agreement in the coming days.
Hassan would be an exciting addition to the Hoops squad as a creative winger who could provide a supply line for Hogh to have the chances that he needs to score goals.
In the 2025/26 campaign, Hyun-jun Yang and James Forrest combined for two assists in the Premiership as the two first-choice right wingers in a team that won the league title.
|
25/26 LaLiga |
Haissem Hassan |
Rank vs RWs |
|---|---|---|
|
xA |
3.22 |
Top 27% |
|
Successful crosses |
27 |
Top 12% |
|
Chances created |
20 |
Top 47% |
|
Assists |
3 |
Top 38% |
|
Successful dribbles |
61 |
Top 5% |
|
Touches in opposition’s box |
72 |
Top 27% |
Hassan, meanwhile, racked up 3.22 xA and three assists in LaLiga for a Real Oviedo team that finished in the bottom three and got relegated to the second tier.
The Egyptian forward could take his creative output to the next level by playing in a dominant Celtic side that are expected to win the league title, as he would have more chances to make things happen in the final third in a team that does not lose week-in-week-out.
Yang and Forrest did not offer enough creativity on the right flank last term and it resulted in none of Celtic’s strikers scoring more than 14 goals, although Benjamin Nygren did score 16 times from midfield.
Hogh’s tally of 17 Eliteserien goals last year shows that he has the potential to be a big upgrade on what Celtic had at their disposal up front last term, but he needs quality services in order to find the back of the net consistently.
Hassan’s form in LaLiga shows that the potential is there for him to provide more creativity than Yang and Forrest on the right, which means that he could play a key role in ensuring that the Danish striker hits the ground running and becomes a star at Parkhead.
The pair could form an important relationship within O’Neill’s side and ensure that the Hoops win the title in more comfortable fashion than they did last season.
