Three potential Celtic striking targets better than Macheda
Published:Neil Lennon would not be the decorated manager he is today if he didn’t know how to pick a suitable transfer target.
So when he rubbished reports linking his club with Manchester United’s Federico Macheda, it wasn’t a daft move.
With Celtic’s dominance in Scotland secure for another season, the Hoops are 11/2 to beat St Mirren 2-0 in their next match.
But the ultimate test for the Scottish club always comes in Europe and, with Georgias Samaras leaving at the end of the season, a new striker is needed to pass it.
Having failed to score in any of his loan spells away from Old Trafford prior to this term’s stints with Doncaster and Birmingham, Macheda was never going to be the man for the job, so we’ve found three who could be:
Adrian Ramos – Hertha Berlin
There’s no two ways about it, Colombian strikers – see Radamel Falcao and Jackson Martinez – are prolific scorers, and Ramos is no different.
Plying his trade for German club Hertha Berlin, the 28-year-old has struck 15 times in 25 league outings this season, a whopping 43 percent of the club’s league total.
With qualification for next season’s Europa League only an outside shot for Berlin, a move to Scotland for guaranteed Champions League football could be just enough appeal to see Ramos sign on.
Ciro Immobile – Torino
A 2011/12 loan spell with Pescara aside, Immobile endured a frustrating career before landing at Torino from Juventus.
In his debut season with the Serie A side he’s scored 12 times from 21 starts, while assisting his teammates twice too.
Those performances, for Italian top-flight mid-tablers, have him on the cusp of a World Cup spot, whereby his stock will no doubt rise further.
Ikechukwu Uche – Villarreal
Age isn’t on the side of Nigerian Uche, who at 30-years-old is playing for his sixth Spanish club and enjoying his best season for some time.
Despite the Yellow Submarine’s Europa League-challenging position in Spain, Celtic could still offer the 12-goal frontman more regular playing time than the 15 starts he’s made in La Liga this term and the chance of winning some silverware as his career hits the home-stretch too.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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