Tomas Cvancara made his debut for Celtic on Sunday evening in an entertaining 2-2 draw with Hearts at Tynecastle in the Scottish Premiership.
Martin O’Neill‘s latest signing made a telling contribution to the match with an excellent assist for Hyun-jun Yang’s goal, running down the left channel before crossing for the winger to score.
The 25-year-old striker joined on loan from Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach, with an option to make the deal permanent in the summer, and already looks set to be an influential figure for the club.
Cvancara may not be the only forward signing to arrive at Parkhead before then end of the January transfer window, though, as the club also have a winger on their radar.
Celtic told the price to pay for Premier League talent
The Hoops have been told how much they need to pay to land a Premier League talent who could be a dream for Cvancara at the top end of the pitch.
According to Football Insider, Celtic and Stoke City are battling it out to land Crystal Palace right winger Jesurun Rak-Sakyi before the end of the January transfer window.
The report claims, though, that the Potters, who are currently in the English Championship, are the frontrunners to land the left-footed star at this moment in time.
That is because they are currently weighing up a formal approach to sign the 23-year-old talent, whilst the Hoops have been put off by the £8m valuation that has been placed on his head.
Palace want £8m to allow him to leave Selhurst Park, as part of a permanent deal or a loan with an obligation to buy, and Celtic want to sign him on loan with an option, which would leave his future up in the air.
Why Celtic must pay the £8m for Rak-Sakyi
The Scottish giants should stump up the cash to pay for Rak-Sakyi on a permanent deal because he could be an exciting addition to the squad, and a dream signing for Cvancara.
It was clear very early on in the game against Hearts that the Czechia international is a sharp link player who likes to drop into pockets to pop passes back to attacking midfielders, but Hyun-jun Yang being a right-footed right winger meant that those opportunities were not always there on that side of the pitch.
Instead, Yang, naturally, looked to get down the line to put crosses across the face of the goal, which did little to help create chances for the new centre-forward.
Cvancara and Yang did link up brilliantly for the second goal, as the striker made a fantastic run and played a perfect ball across for the South Korean winger to score, but Rak-Sakyi is a right winger who could unlock the Borussia Monchengladbach loanee’s goalscoring.
The Czechia international’s best chance of the game came when Benjamin Nygren whipped a left-footed cross in from the right flank, allowing the powerful striker to head the ball off the woodwork.
As a left-footed right winger, Rak-Sakyi can provide better angles to provide the kind of service that Cvancara seems to want, based on his debut against Hearts, as he can open up his body to link the play with the short passes that the striker likes, whilst also being able to cut in to whip inswinging crosses that are easier for the forward to get on the end of.
The 23-year-old star ranked within the top 22% of right wingers in the Championship last season with 0.18 xA per 90 on loan at Sheffield United, per FotMob, which shows that he does have the creative quality to provide high-quality chances for his teammates.
On top of being able to create high-quality opportunities for Cvancara, Rak-Sakyi also scored seven goals in 22 starts for the Blades in the Championship, per Sofascore.
This suggests that the English star, who was dubbed “devastating” by U23 scout Antonio Mango, could also benefit from Cvancara’s creative quality, as he is a goalscoring winger.
25/26 Super Lig
Rak-Sakyi
Appearances
11
Goals
4
Shots on target per game
0.8
Big chances created
2
Assists
1
Dribbles completed per game
1.4
Dribble success rate
44%
As you can see in the table above, Rak-Sakyi also caught the eye as a goalscorer in Turkey with Rizespor during the first half of the current campaign, which means that he would arrive at Parkhead with confidence in front of goal.
Therefore, Cvancara and Rak-Sakyi could be a dangerous pairing at the top end of the pitch for Celtic both because of their respective qualities and the dynamics that can be created through having a left-footed option on the right flank.
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They’ve had a response.
It is now down to the board, though, to stump up the £8m that is required to secure his services to beat Stoke to his signature before the window closes.