15 hours ago
Flavio Nazinho 'on the way' to Celtic as Brendan Rodgers has his transfer wish granted
The search for a left-back appears to be rapidly approaching a conclusion for the Hoops
Cercle Brugge left-back Flavio Nazinho is reportedly closing in on a move to Celtic with Brendan Rodgers' set to add competition for Kieran Tierney.
The 21-year-old looks set to replaced the void left by Greg Taylor following the Scotland international's departure to greek outfit PAOK.
HLN report that the Portuguese star is "on his way to Celtic" and a deal could be completed "in the short term."
It is claimed that Nazinho caught the attention of the Scottish Premiership champions at the U21 European Championship after impressing for Portugal.
He joined Cercle permanently for €1million (£866k) and has a contract until 2028 - with Sporting reportedly due 15 per cent of the fee when the player is sold on to another club.
It comes after Brendan Rodgers' made it clear that he was looking for another left-back to compete with returning hero Tierney - despite being impressed by the early impressions made by Hayato Inamura.
Following the 3-2 behind-closed-doors friendly defeat against Estrela Da Amadora in Lisbon, Rodgers said: "The pre-season is always to assess.
"We know the model here at the club is always to improve them. Sometimes that means they come in and you assess and look, and look to see what's right for the development of them and the team.
"That's what I'm about, getting a collection of individual players that I can see development and improvement in.
"If they are going to be close to the first-team, they'll stay and do that. If not, we may feel they need to go out.
"Ina's that example. I just wanted to get the chance to see him and we'll continue to do that.
"But we know in the background that if we need to move on that position, that if we need to move on that position, that's something that we will be ready to do."
Rodgers has previously admitted 23-year-old Inamura could be allowed to leave this summer - despite just joining the club from Albirex Niigata.
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