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Celtic are reported to be showing interest in signing Cheick Souare from Vitoria Plzen. The 23-year-old midfielder came through the ranks at Marseille but has spend the last few seasons playing in the Czech Republic. With the sale of Arne Engels to West Ham midfield has suddenly become a priority area for strengthening. Mika Baur arrived ahead of Engels moving out but appears to be more of a successor to Reo Hatate than the Belgian. Bluntly Celtic’s midfield options look lightweight, heightened by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain being suspended for the matches against LASK Linz. ???? ????: Genoa and Monza are showing interest in Cheick Souaré from Viktoria Plze?. Celtic and Getafe are also in the race, with the Spanish side already seeing a €2.5m bid rejected. Plze?’s asking price is in the region of €3.5-4m.@SVFootball_eu pic.twitter.com/q3Z2ZDxD8O — Lorenzo Lepore ? (@lorenzooleporee) August 17, 2026 Lepore is an Italian based journalist with more than 14,000 followers on X/Twitter. He also contributes to Balkans Sport. Last season Souare played in 10 Europa League matches. Domestically he scored three goals and was involved in five assists in 25 domestic league matches. CELTIC RECRUITMENT AND TIMELINES A fee in the region of £3-4m will clearly be within Celtic’s budget but transfer matters are rarely straightforward. Last week Celtic registered a squad with UEFA for the LASK matches. That squad included Engels, two changes can be made to the squad by 11pm on Tuesday. Michel-Ange Balikwisha looks the most likely to drop out but only if Celtic can bring in new signings at some stage on Tuesday. Even if signed it it is a high risk strategy to pitch someone straight into the Starting XI, especially a Champions League Play-Off. A more likely scenario is that transfer activity will be on hold until the outcome of the Play Off is determined. Playing in the Champions League raises the bar considerably. Players will be more interested in joining a Champions League club- and will be expecting higher salaries. Martin O’Neill will give a pre-match media conference on Tuesday afternoon. Fans will also be checking social media for transfer updates.