Joel Van den Berg incoming, now “Celtic have presented a new offer for Gvidas Gineitis”
Celtic back in for Gvidas Gineitis as new bid is submitted
Transfer expert Matteo Moretto this morning reported that despite many commentators believing that Celtic’s pursuit of the midfielder vanished amid the Champions League embarrassment and disappointment in Linz six days ago, Celtic has actually submitted a new bid for the player this morning.
Moretto reports: “Celtic have presented a new offer for Gvidas Gineitis of Torino”
Celtic agree deal to sign PSV midfielder Joel Van den Berg
And Celtic yesterday agreed a deal to sign Dutch youth international and PSV midfielder Joel Van den Berg, according to multiple outlets over the past 24 hours, including from Sky Sports.
Anthony Joseph reports: “Celtic have agreed a £3.4m deal to sign PSV Eindhoven midfielder Joel Van Den Berg.
“It’s understood the Netherlands U19 international is due to travel to the UK tomorrow to undergo a medical and finalise the paperwork on his move.
“It’s believed the Scottish champions view van den Berg as a replacement to Arne Engels, who departed to West Ham for £22m earlier this month.”
The 19 year old who has made five appearances for the PSV first team, is mainly used in the Eindhoven sides B side Jong PSV who compete in the Dutch second tier, something incidentally Scottish football should be looking at replicating rather then the Lowland league nonsense.
Van den Berg who skippers the Dutch under 19 side, has impressed Celtic scouts with his displays for Jong PSV, so much so that the club sent delegates to the Netherlands to thrash out a deal that will see the player move to Glasgow before the transfer window slams shut later this week.
The Dutch youngster who stands at 6ft 2in tall scored seven goals, and provided four assists in 26 games for Jong PSV last term.
And the incoming Celt Joel Van den Berg has started this season in fine form, netting twice in his first three games for the B side in the Dutch second tier.
His stats suggest that he’s a bit of a creative goalscoring midfielder, with more than a few outlets have suggested that he will be providing cover and competition for Benjamin Nygren.
But a deep dive into the players strengths will reveal that he’s more of a ‘box-to-box’ midfielder, who likes to link with the defence and attack in equal measure.
The player himself has revealed that’s where his talents lie, so it’s mighty obvious that a deep lying role is his not only his preferred position, but one that his talents are well suited to.
With our demoralising Champions League exit last week looking to have kiboshed offers for the likes of Gvidas Gineitis and Niko Sigur, then it looks as if Van Den Berg could well be the player Martin O’Neill is looking towards in a bid to shore up his fragile midfield that was so exposed in Linz.
And with this morning’s surprising news that Celtic are back on for Gvidas Gineitis then there are reasons to be optimistic that the window could close on with some more activity and on something of a high.
On the pitch one bright spot from last week as far as the Celtic midfield was concerned was the outstanding performance from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain against Falkirk on Saturday afternoon at Celtic Park.
The Ox was standing in for the Celtic skipper Callum McGregor who has been ill, and the former England international put in a tremendous performance in the middle of the park, his best in a Celtic shirt so far.
More of the same please Alex!
For Joel Van den Berg, playing alongside Callum McGregor and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be brilliant for his career development. And if Gvidas Gineitis too is incoming then we’ll be strong in the middle of the park, even with Reo Hatate set to leave the club this week.
