Braga submit €2m bid for Gustaf Lagerbielke – Fabrizio Romano | OneFootball

Fabrizio Romano, the transfer expert, has reported that Portuguese outfit Braga have submitted a €2m bid for Gustaf Lagerbielke…

Celtic would be well advised to accept this bid and preferably without hesitation. Because let’s be honest, Lagerbielke has been a failed recruitment experiment, so a summer move would suit all parties, and is arguably overdue.

Elfsborg’s Gustaf Lagerbielke during the Allsvenskan match between Elfsborg and IFK Göteborg on July 16, 2023 in Boras, Sweden. Photo JÖRGEN JARNBERGER

Signed from Elfsborg in August 2023, apparently on the recommendation of Carl Starfelt’s agent, for a fee in the region of £3m, the Swedish international arrived with the familiar billing – young, tall, composed on the ball and with a sprinkling of potential.

We assumed he was a perfect Ange-style centre-half, albeit one brought in after the Aussie had left the building. But in reality, Lagerbielke’s Celtic career never got out of second gear.

His time in the Hoops has been defined more by absence from the team than any influence in it, and he cut a curious figure lost somewhere between Brendan Rodgers’ tactical demands and the club’s muddled transfer strategy of Celtic’s nightmare summer transfer window of 2023, that we still appear to be trying to remedy.

ROTTERDAM, 19Ã09-2023, Stadium Feijenoord / De Kuip , Champions League , season 2023 / 2024, Feyenoord – Celtic , result 2-0 , Celtic player Gustaf Lagerbielke slaps Feyenoord player Igor Paixao in the face and gets send off with red card and causes a penalty Feyenoord – Celtic. Photo IMAGO

In fairness, it wasn’t all the big fella’s fault. Lagerbielke was thrust into a defensive crisis after injuries to Cameron Carter-Vickers, Stephen Welsh, and Maik Nawrocki forced Brendan Rodgers to shuffle the deck far too early in his first season back at the club.

That he played at all was more down to necessity than readiness. And while he managed a goal against Feyenoord at Celtic Park, it was an otherwise chastening Champions League experience for the young Swede, with a red card in Rotterdam. The harsh truth is that Lagerbielke never looked truly comfortable at the tempo Celtic demand, never mind the intensity of Europe’s elite level.

IMAGO / Sportimage3rd September 2023. Cyriel Dessers of theRangers was adjudged to have fouled Gustaf Lagerbielke of Celtic before setting up theRangers disallowed goal during the Scottish Premiership match at Ibrox. Celtic won 1-0. Photo: Neil Hanna / Sportimage

His positional sense seemed a touch erratic, his distribution under pressure was nervy, and he seemed perpetually half a second behind the play.

For a Rodgers team where centre-backs are asked to build with composure, recover with pace, and dominate duels, Lagerbielke simply didn’t seem to fit the profile.

By the December, he was firmly out of favour, and Rodgers made little effort to hide that the Swede was surplus to requirements. Despite injuries and suspensions, the manager still preferred to patch things up with Liam Scales rather than recall Lagerbielke and two seasons later that remains the case.

Gustaf Lagerbielke of Celtic FC during the UEFA Champions League match between Feyenoord and Celtic FC at Feyenoord Stadion de Kuip on September 19, 2023.Photo VI ANP Sport Jeroen Putmans

There were even failed attempts to move him on in January 2024, just five months after he joined the club — a deal with Lecce collapsed late on — which underlined just how peripheral he had become.

Which is why Braga’s €2m offer feels like a lifeline. For Celtic, it’s a chance to cut losses and free up wages and squad space for more immediate needs. For Lagerbielke, it’s a fresh start at a club and in a league that may better suit his style. And for Braga, it’s a relatively low-risk punt on a player who, in the right setting, might yet deliver on the promise that caught Celtic’s eye in the first place.

FC Twente defender Gustaf Lagerbielke, during the match Twente – Bodo Glimt at the Grolsch Veste, FC Twente Stadion for the UEFA Europa League – Knockout phase play-offs – 1st leg season 2024-2025 in ENSCHEDE, Netherlands on 13 februari 2025, (photo by Stefan Koops EYE4images DeFodi Images

Some transfers work, some don’t, and some are just a bad fit from the start. What matters now is that Celtic learn from the Lagerbielke affair – and that summer ‘23 transfer window – hopefully with better scouting alignment, clearer role fit, and less of the scattergun approach to recruitment.

As for Gustaf, a move to Portugal could be the reboot his career needs. Take the money, chuck in a sell-on clause, and run Celtic. And learn from it, please.

Niall J

New Celtic signing Ross Doohan spoke to The Celtic Star and two other fan media outlets earlier this week, with Conor Spence asking the questions for us. Watch the video below…

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