Their next Kristoffer Ajer: Celtic in talks to sign “towering” star for £0
Celtic FC
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Ben Gray
2 hours ago
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Kristoffer-Ajer-Celtic
Fair to say, this season is going rather well at Parkhead for Celtic.
Brendan Rodgers’ side are currently ten points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership, with a game in hand, are through to the fifth round of the Scottish Cup and have already got their hands on the League Cup, defeating Rangers on penalties in December.
reo-hatate-celtic-premiership (2)
Meantime, the Hoops have reached the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in 12 seasons, so go into Wednesday night’s clash with Aston Villa with the pressure off, still seeking to finish as high up the table as possible.
In the transfer market, it’s been a mixed week for the Celtic support, with fans’ favourite Jota returning from Stade Rennais, 18 months after departing for the Saudi Pro League, although this did heartbreakingly see Kyōgo Furuhashi go in the opposite direction.
jota-celtic-premiership-1
Now, could the Scottish champions be in the market for a new centre-back?
Celtic looking to bolster their back-line
According to a report by Anthony Joseph of Sky Sports News, Celtic are “interested” in Odense centre-back Tobias Slotsager.
The report notes that talks have already taken place with the defender’s agents and with the player out of contact in the summer, he could be signed on a Bosman.
So who is Tobias Slotsager?
What the experts say about Tobias Slotsager
Well, Slotsager is a 19-year-old centre-back, who’s been with Odense Boldklub since the age of 13, making his professional debut three years later against Vejle Boldklub in May 2022.
In total, he’s now made 59 appearances for OB, earning rave reviews, despite the fact the Striwerne were actually relegated from the Danish Superligaen last season, thereby dropping out of the top flight for the first time since 1999.
Despite his team’s struggles, Jamie Rietiker-Wright of Sport Republic believes Slotsager is “a special young defender”. Further reviews come from Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout who labelled him a “complete & elegant centre-back”, while a report by Dutch outlet Voetbal Primeur described him as a “towering defender”, exclaiming he is “one of the greatest talents” in football right now.
Slotsager featured in the Guardian’s Next Generation series for 2023, in which Michael Yokhin noted he is “tactically astute way beyond his age”, while Odense youth coach Tonny Hermansen stated “Tobias is a player with huge potential, and we believe that he could go really far. Despite all the praise, [he] keeps his feet on the ground and continues to work hard in every training session”.
How Tobias Slotsager could be Celtic’s next Ajer
A move for Slotsager would be reminiscent of when Celtic signed an 18-year-old Kristoffer Ajer from Eliteserien outfit Start in 2016, for a reported £650,000.
Ajer would go on to make 176 appearances for Celtic, winning nine major trophies, before being sold to Brentford for £13.5m, representing a massive profit.
So, let’s compare Ajer’s time in Norway to Slotsager’s career in Denmark so far.
Slotsager at Odense vs Ajer at Start
Statistics (per 90)
Slotsager
Ajer
Appearances
59
61
Minutes
4,259
4,706
Tackles
0.93
2.5
Interceptions
0.63
1.2
Clearances
3.5
1.2
% of ground duels won
66.2%
71.4%
% of aerial duels won
50.8%
57.3%
Average Sofascore rating
6.84
6.95
Statistics courtesy of SofaScore and Transfermarkt
As shown in the table, Ajer was similarly inexperienced when he joined Celtic as Slotsager is now, having made a similar number of appearances and minutes at similar levels; Denmark’s top-flight is currently ranked 16th by UEFA, albeit OB are currently in the second-tier, while the Norwegian first division actually came in at 22nd when Ajer most-recently played there in 2016.
ajer-celtic-premiership-hoops-mbuyamba-rodgers-transfer-gossip
In terms of the other statistics, Ajer does come out on top, but that does not mean Slotsager’s numbers are not impressive because, as noted by Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout, the teenager ranked first in last season’s Superligaen for % of defensive duels won (82.5%).
Given he is still only 19, Slotsager may not be ready to have an immediate impact in Celtic’s first team, similar to Ajer, who spent the second half of his first season in Scotland on loan at Kilmarnock, but this young defender appears to be a special talent, so the Premiership champions should do everything in their power to snap-up his future.
nicolas-kuhn-celtic-champions-league
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