Celtic are expected to be in the transfer market for a midfielder to compensate for the departure of Nir Bitton, who decided to leave Parkhead at the end of last season to take on a different challenge after almost a decade at the club. He had been one of the Hoops’ most experienced players and thus, replacing him is considered to be an important task for Ange Postecoglou’s side.

The Hoops have already been linked with several candidates who could be decent additions in the middle of the park. But they seem to be some distance away from making an addition.

One of the latest names that has been doing the rounds of the Celtic rumour mill is that of Brazilian midfielder, Vinicius Souza.

The 22-year-old spent the 2021/22 campaign on loan at KV Mechelen in the first division of Belgian football. He is currently a player of Lommel SK, a club which is part of the City Football Group and in the second division in Belgium. Following his stellar season though, Souza has been attracting the interest of teams across Europe, with one of them believed to be Celtic.

Celtic target advised to join a Premier League club

Former Belgium international, Steven Defour, will be very aware of the quality of Souza. The former Burnley and Porto star, who is now working as assistant manager at KV Mechelen, believes that the Brazilian is good enough to play in the Premier League. As reported by HLN (via 67 Hail Hail), he said:

“Vini can make a great career. He can perfectly join a Belgian or Dutch top club.

“But perhaps the middle or sub-top of the Premier League is the ideal step. There he will be challenged. He needs that to keep making progress.

“This season, we already saw that sometimes it was too easy for him, and then there was nonchalance in his game. Where his ceiling is, is difficult to estimate. But he has the qualities to make it at the top of Europe.”

Besides Celtic, Club Brugge and Fenerbahce are also believed to be monitoring the situation of the Brazilian midfielder.

Souza’s current deal with Lommel SK is believed to run until the summer 2025, meaning that his suitors might have to shell out a significant transfer fee to sign him, as the Belgian second division will be under no pressure to let him go. A loan exit is rumoured to be the most possible route for him this time around.

This article was originally posted here