The January transfer window officially opened for business on Thursday and
Celtic have already been linked with numerous potential signings to bolster their squad.
Columbus Crew attacker Diego Rossi is reportedly interested in a move to reunite with Wilfried Nancy at Parkhead, having scored 16 goals for him in the MLS in the 2025 campaign.
The Celtic Way also recently reported that the club have an interest in Preston North End centre-forward Milutin Osmajic, who has scored four goals in 11 Championship matches this season, per Sofascore.
Why Celtic need to sign a new centre-forward
The reigning Scottish Premiership champions need to add a new number nine to their squad because they have not had enough quality in that position so far this season.
Celtic’s top 25/26 Premiership scorers
Player
Goals
Benjamin Nygren
8
Daizen Maeda
6
Johnny Kenny
4
Arne Engels
3
Kieran Tierney
3
Stats via WhoScored
As you can see in the table above, no Celtic player has hit double figures for goals in the league, midway through the season, and only two players have scored more than four goals in the first 19 matches.
Kenny is the only recognised number nine, albeit Maeda can play there, on that list, and the Ireland international has not done enough to prove that he can be the team’s main man up front.
Per WhoScored, the Irish striker has only scored four goals from 7.57 xG in the Premiership, thanks to missing chances like the one in the clip above, which shows that he has been far too wasteful in front of goal for the Scottish giants.
Instead of swooping for reported targets Rossi or Osmajic to solve this clear problem in the squad, though, the Hoops should move for another target.
The £4m striker Celtic should sign in January
It was reported last month that Celtic are interested in a deal to sign £4m-rated Union Berlin centre-forward Andrej Ilic to be their number nine for the second half of the season and beyond.
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The Hoops should push to get a deal done for the Bundesliga attacker ahead of Rossi and Osmajic, because he has shown quality in a major European league.
ROSSI GRAPHIC
Rossi, as shown in the graphic above, was a reliable and prolific goalscorer for Nancy during their time together at Columbus Crew, but the French manager’s five losses from seven games at Celtic suggest that there is a steep learning curve from the MLS to the Premiership.
The Uruguay international’s only experience in Europe was scoring ten goals in 77 games for Fenerbahce in the 2021/22 and 2022/23 campaigns, per Sofascore, which means that there is still a huge doubt over whether or not he could adapt to life in Glasgow.
Osmajic, meanwhile, has never scored more than nine goals in a league campaign, and would arrive at Parkhead with multiple controversies hanging over his head from his time at Preston.
The striker was given a nine-game ban in November after he was charged with racially abusing Burnley midfielder Hannibal Mejbri. That came 13 months on from when he was banned for eight games for biting Blackburn defender Owen Beck.
Ilic, meanwhile, has the goalscoring pedigree, experience in a major European league, and a lack of controversies that make him a better option than both Rossi and Osmajic.
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Firstly, he scored 30 goals in his last two league seasons with RFS in the Latvian top-flight in 2022 and 2023 campaigns, per Transfermarkt, which shows that he can score goals on a regular basis when playing for a title-challenging side, winning the league in both seasons.
24/25 Bundesliga
Andrej Ilic
Starts
11
xG
4.89
Goals
7
Minutes per goal
135
Conversion rate
25%
Aerial duels won per game
3.3
Aerial duel success rate
49%
Stats via Sofascore
As you can see in the table above, Ilic showcased his impressive goalscoring quality after his move to Union Berlin in January 2025, outperforming his xG to score seven goals in just 11 starts.
Journalist Josh Bunting described him as “dangerous” during his time with RFS, and that remains true to this day, as he has shown that he can score and create goals in the Bundesliga, with six assists in ten starts this term.
In his time with Union Berlin, Ilic has scored eight goals and provided seven assists in 23 starts in all competitions, per Sofascore, more than one goal contribution every other match.
That is an eye-catching return in a top European league, given that no Celtic striker has managed more than four goals in 19 Premiership games this season.
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Therefore, Celtic should swoop to sign Ilic ahead of Rossi, because of his lack of European pedigree, and Osmajic, because of his controversies and lack of goals, to make him their new number nine under Nancy.