Dream Kuhn replacement: Celtic set to sign "fearless" star this week
da blaze casino： The start of Celtic’s pre-season is now just over a week away, with Brendan Rodgers busy preparing his side for the defence of their Premiership title at Parkhead.
da mrbet： On Friday 4 July, the Hoops’ schedule will commence, taking on Glasgow neighbours Queen’s Park at Lesser Hampden, before travelling to Ireland, Lisbon, the north of England and the north of Italy.
After all that, Rodgers’ side will start their season for real, but how many players will be making their debuts in hoops that afternoon?
Celtic's busy summer
Even by their own usually high standards, it’s set to be a busy summer at Celtic, with plenty of ins and outs seemingly in the pipeline. Kieran Tierney has already moved back to Paradise and there could be more to come.
Well, according Tipsbladet, as relayed by Sport Witness, Celtic are set to complete the signing of Benjamin Nygren in the ‘next few days’, seeing off interest from Belgian giants Anderlecht.
Fabrizio Romano reported over the weekend that the Hoops will pay €1.5m (around £1.3m) to Nordsjælland for his services, a fee that is substantially lower than his estimated Transfermarkt value of £5m, given that he is out of contract as soon as New Year’s Eve.
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Now, Nordsjælland sporting director, Alexander Riget, has commented on the club’s desire to sign a new attacker, leading the aforementioned report to believe that it won’t be long before Nygren takes his leave.
Why Benjamin Nygren can replace Nicolas Kühn at Celtic
Nygren has enjoyed a breakout season in the Danish Superligaen, scoring 16 times, earning him international recognition for the first time, debuting against Luxembourg in March and actually featuring in all four of the Blågult’s friendlies this year to date, netting against both Northern Ireland in Stockholm and when Sweden faced Hungary at the Puskás Aréna earlier this month.
His new international teammate Alexander Isak is certainly a fan, labelling the 23 year old “fearless”, adding that he “has a lot of confidence” and “he did incredibly well”, enjoying playing alongside a winger who “is able to provide good crosses”.
So now, Nygren is seemingly on his way to Glasgow, but he will have big shoes to fill.
Indeed, according to German outlet Kicker, Nicolas Kühn is set to join Bundesliga side RB Leipzig, with Glasgow Times adding that talks are at an “advanced stage” with die Roten Bullen set to pay £15m for his services.
As the graphic above indicates, only Matt O’Riley, Jota, Kieran Tierney and Moussa Dembélé have ever been sold for higher fees.
This comes after Kühn enjoyed a breakout season in Glasgow, described by Michael Shearer of Breaking the Lines as the Hoops’ ‘next great attacking player’, but it was very much a campaign of two halves for the winger, as the table below outlines.
Nicolas Kühn 2024/25 statistics
Statistics
Kühn in 2024
Kühn in 2025
Appearances
27
24
Minutes
1,713
1,572
Goals
14
7
Assists
11
4
Statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt
Kühn’s form fell off a cliff after the turn of the year, scoring just five goals across all competitions following a brace against St Mirren on 5 January.
Thus, while some supporters are disappointed to see him depart, perhaps now is the right time to sell a player who arrived for just £3m a mere 18 months ago, representing a 500% return on investment.
Nevertheless, the key question now is: will Nygren be a suitable replacement?
Well, Sakhu Mpofu of Total Football Analysis documents how the Swede is at his best when deployed as a right-winger, given that he likes to ‘invert into the centre’, while analyst Will Glavin labels Nygren a “versatile” attacker who possesses a “killer instinct in front of goal”, all ways one could describe the outgoing Kühn, underlining their stylistic similarities.
So, let’s take a look at Nygren’s statistics in the Danish Superligaen this season.
Nygren’s Superligaen stats 2024/25
Statistics
Nygren
Superligaen rank
Goals
15
3rd
Assists
2
69th
Shots
82
3rd
Shots on target
40
1st
Shots on target %
48.8
10th
Big chances missed
14
3rd
Average SofaScore rating
7.42
4th
Statistics courtesy of FBref.com and SofaScore
As the numbers highlights, Nygren was an impressive performer during this most recent campaign, doing so in a division that, according to Global Football Rankings, is the 13th strongest in the world, a whopping 30 places higher than the Premiership.
Thus, while Celtic supporters will be sad to see Kühn depart, they should most certainly be excited about Nygren’s arrival, with the reported £1.3m fee appearing to be an absolute bargain, so everyone should be eagerly awaiting his first outing in hoops.
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