Celtic Transfer Options - RB

Right back is a position Celtic have struggled to fill since the departure of Mikael Lustig three years ago. We thought Jeremie Frimpong was the long term successor but it was inevitable that such a great young talent would be sold for major profit. I’ve included 5 players in this article who could feasibly nail down the right back position and make it their own. Let’s take a closer look. 

Aslak Fonn Witry - Witry plays for Djurgården in Sweden and has been a consistent performer and contributer to their success in the past two and a half years. Since joining from Ranheim in January of 2019, Witry has racked up 59 appearances in the Allsvenskan. In these 59 games, the 25 year old has scored 8 goals and got 12 assists. Witry averages around 1.2 tackles per game and approximately 1.7 accurate crosses per game. Jeremie Frimpong averaged just 0.9 tackles per game and 0.4 accurate crosses per game in the Scottish Premiership in 2020/2021 so this does prove Witry has end product, something Celtic fans were critical of Frimpong for. The Norwegian has also made 1.4 interceptions per match in the previous two and half seasons, displaying his defensive qualities. Witry was very close to joining FC Utrecht in the Netherlands recently so he is certainly not short of potential suitors. The fee was only believed to be around £850,000 which would be a categorical bargain. Aslak Fonn Witry could definitely be the long term solution at right back for Celtic.

Fabien Centonze - Fabien Centonze is probably the most unrealistic target on this list. The Frenchman plays for Metz in Ligue 1 and has been linked to Marseille of late. The 25 year old only has 64 appearances to his name in France’s top flight but he has impressed in that time. He joined Metz in the summer of 2019 for a minimal £2.7 million fee and throughout his tenure as the main right back at the club, Centonze has 2 goals and 3 assists in all competitions. Centonze’s main strength is his defensive contribution however he does like to carry the ball forward and whip crosses into the box. This is proved because in his time at Metz, Centonze has averaged 1.4 successful dribbles per match. I said how defending is his main asset and yet again the stats back this up. Centonze has averaged an incredible 2.6 interceptions per match and 1.8 successful tackles per game. Centonze sounds like the ideal player for Celtic, solid defensively and capable of getting up and down the right. I did say how bringing in Centonze may be slightly delusional. His value is £7.2 million (TransferMarkt) but this isn’t fully out of Celtic’s price range when you look at the cost of the likes of Chris Jullien, Odsonne Edouard and Albian Ajeti. 

Jorge Sanchez - When Ange Postecoglou was unveiled to Celtic supporters and the press, he mentioned how he would like to focus on the Asian and South American markets as he believes there’s a lot of talent in those continents. One possible player for Celtic to consider in South America is Jorge Sanchez. The 23 year old plays his football for CF America in the Mexican top flight and has made 61 appearances in the league for his side in the past two seasons. Sanchez excels in one on one defending and he also has very good reading of the game, he’s averaged 1.2 interceptions in all of his league games for CF America in the past two campaigns along with 1.2 successful tackles in the same time frame. The right back also loves to get forward and he’s made 1.5 successful dribbles per game in the last two Liga MX seasons. He would definitely provide a different dynamic to Jonjoe Kenny who averaged 0.4 dribbles per match in his time in the SPFL. Sanchez is a Mexican international who has 14 caps to his name. The 23 year old’s contract doesn’t expire until the summer of 2025 so it would definitely take a decent fee to make CF America consider selling Sanchez; his market value is £4.5 million (TransferMarkt). It is encouraging to hear that Postecoglou is intrigued by the Asian and South American markets. It would be nice to see Celtic indulge in them because there is without question lots of undiscovered talent. 

Silvan Hefti - Silvan Hefti plays his football for Young Boys in Switzerland and has featured at right back in almost every game as they won the Swiss Super League for the 2020/21 campaign. The 23 year old stands at 6”0 tall and can also play at holding midfield so his versatility could be helpful for Celtic. In the past three seasons, Hefti has made 99 appearances in the Swiss Super League for both Young Boys and St. Gallen. During this time, he averaged 1.9 tackles per match as well as 1.3 interceptions per game. Going forward, the Swiss has made 1.1 successful dribbles per match with same figure for key passes in each game. Hefti has yet to feature for the Switzerland national team but he has made seven appearances at under 21 level for his country. The 23 year old also has experience in European competition, he made 10 appearances in the Europa League for Young Boys as they reached the last 16 of the competition. They managed to knock out Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen in the round of 32 but eventually succumbed to the quality of Ajax. Hefti only joined Young Boys last summer for around £1.1 million pounds. His current market value is £3.15 million (TransferMarkt) so a bid in this region would certainly tempt Young Boys to make some instant profit. 

Kyle Duncan - The American market is one Celtic tested out a number of years ago with the signings of Andrew Gutman and Manny Perez however it never really worked out for the two full backs in green and white. With arguably the USA’s golden generation coming through, Celtic couldn’t do worse than giving it another go in the States. One such player they could do this through is Kyle Duncan. The 23 year old has made 51 appearances for New York Red Bulls in the MLS since his breakthrough to the side in March of 2018. He’s scored 5 goals and got 5 assists in those 51 games. A big part of Duncan’s game is his aerial ability but dribbling, tackling and ball interception are also some of his key characteristics. Duncan has averaged 1.6 successful dribbles per match in his MLS career along with 1.1 tackles per game. For the 2021 MLS season so far, Duncan tops the league, at the time of writing, for interceptions with 36. His impressive displays in the 2020 MLS campaign seen him get a call up to the USMNT, where he made his debut, coming off the bench in a 6-0 win against El Salvador. Because Kyle Duncan plays for New York Red Bulls, it would make sense for any move to Europe for him to come through the Red Bull network. However, Celtic could provide Duncan with an opportunity to become the first choice right back at the club, European competition and possibly even a springboard to the Premier League.