NACHO LAQUINTANA: CELTIC LINKED WITH URUGUAYAN WINGER
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
We are firmly in transfer silly season as speculation heats up. However, this latest rumor linking Celtic with another Uruguayan international may actually have something to it.
The player in question is winger and playmaker Nacho Laquintana. The player spent last season on loan at Santos, where he played alongside Tony Ralston’s old mate, Neymar,
Celtic are reportedly in discussions with his parent club, Red Bull Bragantino in Brazil. Here’s what we know so far.
Is Nacho Laquintana Celtic’s Right Wing Answer?
Word from inside Celtic Park is that Shaun Maloney, now installed once again as first team coach, following Wilfried Nancy’s departure, has been working on a number of potential targets with Celtic’s scouting team for the past few weeks, as uncertainty swirled around Nancy and his staff.
According to an article in The Herald this morning, Laquintana is one of those players identified as a potential target.
The paper even suggests the clubs are already at the contract negotiation stage. Though a fee has yet to be agreed, the player is said to be keen on the move. Celtic want to take Laquintana on a loan-to-buy deal, much like they did with Daizen Maeda when he joined from Yokohama F-Marinos back in 2022.
Now, before you all let out your collective groans of “oh god, not another loan deal” there may be an ulterior motive at play here.
Remember Daizen was one of three players we signed from Japan in that window. Reo Hatate and Yosuke Ideguchi also came in, along with Matt O’Riley and Johnny Kenny.
Most fans and many pundits too seem to feel that we need a similar number, if not more, new faces in the door this month to revitalize our league challenge. This need will be compounded further if Daizen Maeda and Hyun Jun Yang, who were both set to leave in August, get their moves away in this window.
Celtic’s board will, in response to fan pressure, hopefully allow this to happen. However, a loan deal now, which wouldn’t be formalized into a full transfer until the summer, allows for a wee bit of that financial jiggery-pokery they love so much, that makes our finances look that wee bit better.
So, against that backdrop a loan-to-buy move appears to make sense.
The player will also be aware that, with the World Cup now only 6 months away, playing a part in helping a laboring Celtic team get back to the top of the league would go a long way to finalizing his place on the plane to North America.
There seems little hope now of Michel-Ange Balikwisha making the grade at Celtic. So, perhaps, in Nacho Laquintana Celtic have a ready-made replacement.
And who knows?
If the presence of another Uruguayan in the dressing room makes him feel a bit more at home, the impressive Marcello Saracchi might yet extend his own loan spell at Celtic too.
