{"id":423371,"date":"2026-01-19T14:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T14:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/423371\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T14:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T14:26:10","slug":"celtic-transfer-state-of-play-as-martin-oneill-pushes-board-amid-fofana-clue-and-amenda-agent-address","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/423371\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtic transfer state of play as Martin O’Neill ‘pushes’ board amid Fofana clue and Amenda agent address"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Hoops are in dire need of incoming players amid a quiet January window<\/p>\n

21:24, 18 Jan 2026Updated 21:28, 18 Jan 2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill cut a frustrated figure on the touchline(Image: )<\/p>\n

Celtic boss Martin O’Neill <\/a>“will push” for more recruits this month with the January transfer clock ticking.<\/p>\n

That is according to ally Neil Lennon – who believes his former boss will have made it clear to the board what he needs in the door before February 2. Goals from Johnny Kenny<\/a> and Sebastian Tounekti proved to be enough to see off the sixth-tier side<\/a> Auchinleck Talbot in the Scottish Cup – but fans continued to chant “sign a player” throughout the 90 minutes.<\/p>\n

Juli\u00e1n Araujo’s arrival from Bournemouth is the only new recruit in the door so far this month – with O’Neill previously making it clear that the Hoops need a new striker. Speaking to Premier Sports after Celtic’s win over Talbot, Lennon said: \u201cI think he needs players in, and I think he will push for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say demand it, but he has made it clear what he wants from the board. I\u2019m sure the board will back him this week and get the players he wants in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will be his players, not Paul Tisdale\u2019s and not Wilfried Nancy\u2019s, because that has had to change since Martin came in. Now he\u2019s going to bring in players, whether that\u2019s loans or signings, to get Celtic over the line for the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chelsea striker David Datro Fofana is on Celtic<\/a>‘s shopping list again after the collapse of a summer move to Glasgow’s East End. The 22-year-old is currently on loan at Turkish Super Lig side Fatih Karag\u00fcmr\u00fck, where he has found form by netting eight times in 14 matches – the latest coming in the 2-1 defeat to \u0130stanbul Ba\u015fak\u015fehir.<\/p>\n

Chelsea<\/a> are expected to cut his loan in Turkey short to free up and international loan slot – and move Fofana on permanently. But the man himself appears focussed on his current club – and appears to be in no rush to move.<\/p>\n

Speaking after the loss to Ba\u015fak\u015fehir, he said: “I’m a striker and my job is to help the team. Obviously, I did my job.<\/p>\n

“Scoring goals is my job. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. I will try to score more goals in the upcoming matches.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

David Datro Fofana(Image: Ulrik Pedersen\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Celtic target Aurele Amenda’s agent has also opened the door for his client to leave Eintracht Frankfurt this month.<\/p>\n

The Switzerland international \u2013 itching for a place in his country’s World Cup squad \u2013 was an unused substitute in his side’s 3-3 draw with Werder Bremen on Friday night.<\/p>\n

It’s understood the 6ft 6in defender wants to explore loan options and the Premiership champions are among the club’s who would be keen to land the defender.<\/p>\n

Representative Jose Noguera Rodriguez admitted the player will assess his options before the end of the month.<\/p>\n

He told Absolut Fu\u00dfball: \u201cIn January, we\u2019ll examine all the options that are best for his sporting development. Should an opportunity arise where Aurele gets the playing time he deserves, we will seriously consider it.<\/p>\n

“Until then, he will continue to give his all for Eintracht and behave professionally. Aurele is grateful for the opportunity in Frankfurt, but his career is at a crucial juncture where decisions need to be made.”<\/p>\n

Struggling Evan Ferguson has been tipped to make a loan move to Celtic this month – if he is recalled from his loan at Roma by Brighton.<\/p>\n

The Ireland international only made the move to Serie A last summer from the Seagulls but has struggled to hold down a regular spot in the staring line-up.<\/p>\n

While netting fives goals in 21 appearances this term for Roma, boss Gian Piero Gasperini has publicly slammed Ferguson. Before the loss to Juventus last month heading into the January window he declared Ferguson “isn’t convincing me\u201d.<\/p>\n

Brighton boss Fabian H\u00fcrzeler admits that things could change for Ferguson quickly this month. Asked about the future of the 21-year-old, the German said: \u201cThe transfer window is open, anything can happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s had a significant impact at Roma. There have been some setbacks, and he needs to improve in terms of playing time and performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cFerguson needs to improve, play and then come back to us and be effective. He needs to demonstrate his work, starting in the coming months.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Hoops are in dire need of incoming players amid a quiet January window 21:24, 18 Jan 2026Updated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,222381,63,18282,18283,48075,9004,596,113572,110461,9003,85,9002,221591],"class_list":["post-423371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-auchinleck-talbot","tag-australia","tag-celtic-fc","tag-celtic-transfer-news","tag-eintracht-frankfurt","tag-english-premier-league","tag-football","tag-martin-oneill","tag-neil-lennon","tag-scottish-premiership","tag-sports","tag-transfer-talk","tag-william-hill-scottish-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}