12 months on from Celtic, Nicolas Kuhn is the latest player to learn that the grass isn’t always greener after leaving Parkhead.
The German striker was sold to Italian side Como for £16.5m in the summer transfer window last year, after scoring 24 goals in 69 games during his 18-month spell in Glasgow.
Unfortunately, the teenager from Bayern Munich scored only one goal and provided two assists in 26 appearances in all competitions for the Serie A outfit, failing to provide quality consistently.
Como has made it clear he can be offloaded from the club and could leave Italy immediately for one season after his big-money move from Celtic.
Why Celtic need to get the next iteration of Nicolas Kuhn
The Hoops need to find their next iteration of Kuhn, as long as they don’t do what they did with Jota and re-sign him, because they currently don’t have a left-footed option on the right side.
Benjamin Nygren and Luke McCowan, two left-footed players, have been placed on the right at times by Martin O’Neill, but both are efficient and comfortable in central positions.
The only right-footed players in the team are Hyun-jun Yang and James Forrest, both right-footed, and neither of them scored two goals last season in the Scottish Premiership.
|
25/26 Premiership |
Hyun-jun Yang |
James Forrest |
|---|---|---|
|
Appearance |
31 |
27 |
|
xG |
7.37 |
2.01 |
|
Goals |
8 |
1 |
|
Key passes per game |
0.7 |
0.6 |
|
Great opportunities have been created |
6 |
4 |
|
It helps |
1 |
1 |
Yang and Forrest’s occasional struggles in the league also suggest that Celtic need a winger who can provide consistent quality as a creative threat, as they have combined for two assists in 58 games.
The Hoops, therefore, need to find a left-footed winger with the ability to carry a consistent creative threat next season, to finally replace Kuhn after 12 months without the German star.
How can Celtic end up replacing Kuhn
O’Neill and the recruiting department have identified right wing as an area in need of strengthening, as they look for a potential replacement for Kuhn.
Football Insider reports that Celtic are interested in a deal to sign Real Oviedo striker Haissem Hassan before the end of the summer transfer window.
The outlet claim the Egyptian has a £10m release clause in his contract with the Spanish club, but the Hoops believe they will be able to agree a deal for less than that.
It says the Premiership champions are ‘confident’ they will be able to sign him for less than £10m, as his contract with Real Oviedo expires next summer.
|
Celtic target file |
|
|---|---|
|
Mathematics |
Hassem Hassan |
|
Age |
24 |
|
Preferred foot |
On the left |
|
Preferred location |
The right wing |
|
Current club |
The real Oviedo |
|
Visibility of jobs |
255 |
|
Work goals |
15 |
|
It helps with work |
22 |
|
The national team |
Egypt |
|
High caps |
6 |
The 24-year-old could be the replacement Kuhn needed over the past 12 months because he is a left-handed batsman who plays more right-handed.
Celtic do not have a left-footed player who can cut to the right to deliver goals and assists since they sold the German striker to Como, which is why they must push to bring that player in this summer.
Hassan fits the bill from a stylistic point of view, as a left winger, and the club are confident they can agree a fee, given his contractual status, making this an attractive signing on paper.
The only concern, however, is that he has yet to provide consistent quality at the other end of the pitch in his career so far, with zero goals and three assists in LaLiga last term.
Hassan, who scored four goals and provided three assists in LaLiga 2 in the 2024/25 campaign, is an emerging talent looking for his breakout season, and that could come at Parkhead.
His return of five completed dribbles and one assist in two World Cup games in Egypt, assisting a goal against the champions of Argentina, shows that he is at a high level to play in the top division.
That doesn’t guarantee he’ll be a success at Celtic, of course, but Hassan looks a risk worth taking for the Hoops in their quest to land the next Kuhn.
