Celtic still have just over two weeks left to bring in new faces to bolster their first-team squad before the January transfer window slams shut.
One player who does not seem likely to make a move to Parkhead in the coming weeks, though, is Kyogo Furuhashi, despite reports earlier this month that the club were in talks with Birmingham over a deal to bring him back to Glasgow.
Since then, though, Martin O’Neill has all but ruled out a swoop for the Japan international, who he says wants to prove himself with Birmingham, less than a year on from his move to England from Rennes.
This means that the Scottish Premiership giants are having to look at alternative options in their bid to add more firepower to their squad ahead of the second half of the campaign.
Celtic eyeing move for Bundesliga striker
The Hoops are already eyeing up alternative strikers to Kyogo and are reportedly looking at one star who would be an even better signing than the Japanese star.
According to TEAMtalk, Celtic are stepping up their interest to push to sign Andrej Ilic from Bundesliga side Union Berlin to be O’Neill’s new number nine at Parkhead.
The report claims that the club have identified the Serbian centre-forward as a key target for the January transfer window, but adds that it will be a difficult deal to get done.
TEAMtalk reveals that Union Berlin are looking for a fee in the region of £9m for the attacker, and that there is interest from other clubs across Europe, which is why this is not a straightforward move for the Hoops.
The report states that the Scottish giants are exploring a deal for the 25-year-old star, though, and that he is a priority target for them, so they are going to push to win the race for his signature.
Why Celtic should sign Andrej Ilic
Supporters may look at his headline statistics this season and see that he has not scored any goals in the Bundesliga this season, but Kyogo has also not scored any goals in 23 Championship matches for Birmingham.
If you look into the broader numbers around their respective performances for Union Berlin and Birmingham, it is clear that Ilic offers far more to his team as a centre-forward.
As you can see in the table above, the Serbian marksman has offered significantly more as a creator and as a physical outlet for his side in the 2025/26 campaign, whilst they have both been far too wasteful in front of goal.
This is important because it shows that Ilic still provides great value on the pitch even when he is not scoring goals, whilst the same cannot be said of Kyogo, who struggles with the physical side of the game.
Celtic will also be hoping that the Union star’s struggles in front of goal this season are a blip, because he did score seven goals from 4.89 xG in the Bundesliga last term, per Sofascore, which shows that he is capable of being an efficient finisher at a very high level, in one of Europe’s top leagues.
Ilic’s form earlier in his career also suggests that he does have the potential to be a prolific scorer when playing for a team that dominates matches and is expected to win on a regular basis, as he scored 42 goals in 87 games for RFS and 11 goals in 16 matches for Valerenga, per Transfermarkt.
The 25-year-old star was dubbed a “dangerous” player by journalist Josh Bunting during his time at RFS, and that is still the case in the present day because he is a dangerous creative force, even when he is not scoring goals on a regular basis.
Overall, Ilic would be a big upgrade on signing Kyogo back because he has more strings to his bow as a centre-forward, and he has scored seven league goals in the Bundesliga, all of which came last term, since Kyogo last scored a league goal.
The Japan international’s last league goal came for Celtic against Ross County on the 11th of January last year, with no goals in 29 league games for Rennes and Birmingham so far, and that is another reason why Ilic could be an even better addition.
