40 days on from that heartbreaking Scottish Cup Final defeat to Aberdeen on penalties, Celtic are, almost, back in action.
Brendan Rodgers’ side will begin pre-season by facing Glasgow neighbours Queen’s Park at Lesser Hampden on Friday night, before travelling across the Irish Sea to take on Cork City at Páirc Uí Chaoimh next Tuesday.
Off the pitch, the Hoops continue to be busy in the transfer market, so could another signing be on the way?
Celtic targeting a new midfielder
So far this summer, the Hoops have made four signings. Kieran Tierney is back, the returning hero re-joining the club six years after departing for Arsenal.
Winger Benjamin Nygren has arrived from Nordsjælland for a reported fee of £1.3m, young striker Callum Osmand has come in from Fulham, while Ross Doohan will be the new third-choice goalkeeper.
Now, according to a report by Neil Goulding of Sports Boom, Celtic have ‘joined the race’ to sign Tyler Morton from Liverpool and are currently readying a bid.
They claim that the 22-year-old is valued at around £15m, a price tag that would eclipse the Hoops’ club-record £11m capture of Arne Engels. West Ham, Ajax, Braga and Club Brugge have also ‘already expressed their interest’.
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Morton has been with Liverpool since the age of seven, making his senior debut in the EFL Cup against Norwich back in September 2021.
To date, he has accumulated just 14 appearances for the Reds, totalling 806 minutes, just 261 minutes of which came last season, his only starts coming against Brighton and Southampton, both in the Carabao Cup.
Morton has previously been loaned out to both Blackburn Rovers and Hull City, making 46 and 41 appearances for those two clubs respectively, but after starring at the under-21 European Championships, which England won, he could be ready for a permanent switch away from Anfield, with a report by the Times stating he is ‘eager for regular’ first team action.
How would Tyler Morton improve Celtic
Despite having only ever seen limited action, Morton’s performances have earned rave reviews.
Then-Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp labelled him a “brilliant footballer”, adding that he possesses an “outstanding” football brain. Analyst Ben Mattinson also believes he is the “complete midfielder”.
Meantime, Barry Cooper of Hull Live praised his ‘willingness to take the ball under pressure’, asserting that he was ‘impressive throughout’ his campaign on loan at the Tigers, forecasting he’ll go to the very top.
Morton started the U21 Euros quarter-final victory over Spain, before seeing 76 minutes of action off the bench in the final victory over Germany, his stunning cross teeing up Jonathan Rowe’s extra time winner at the Národný futbalový štadión.
Should he make the move to Celtic, the aforementioned Engels would be amongst the midfielders Morton would be aiming to usurp in the pecking order, with the chance there for the £15m man to follow in the Belgian’s footsteps as an exciting, albeit expensive, midfield capture.
Appearances
41
52
Minutes
3,020
3,310
Goals
3
10
Assists
5
13
All statistics below are per 90
Attempted passes
59.1
56.6
Forward passes
13.2
14.4
Pass completion %
88.5%
84.7%
Chances created
1.4
2.5
Shot-creating actions
3.06
2.91
Duels contested
7.2
7.6
Ground duel success %
45%
49%
Tackles
1.7
1.1
Interceptions
0.8
0.2
Ball recoveries
4.9
3.5
Touches per 90
73.4
78.8
As the table outlines, Engels is more of a goal threat, hence why his rudimentary goals and assists statistics are significantly higher, while the Belgian also created more chances and accumulated more touches on a per 90 basis.
However, more broadly, Morton’s statistics are comparable to those of Engels, completing a higher percentage of his passes, while registering more tackles, interceptions and ball recoveries too.
So, what is clear is that, stylistically, the pair are very different but, still only 22 years old, with a miserly 101 senior appearances to his name, Morton has plenty of room for improvement – much like the 21-year-old Engels.
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