Factfile: All you need to know about Moritz Bauer

Celtic confirmed the loan signing of Moritz Bauer on Tuesday afternoon, with the club having the option to make his stay with the Hoops permanent at the end of the season.

Twitter: #CelticFC is delighted to confirm the signing of right-back, Moritz Bauer on a season-long loan from @stokecity.… https://t.co/MBYu9e21md (@CelticFC)

But who is Bauer, and what has his career been like thus far? We’ve taken a look.

profile

Bauer is a 27-year-old right-back, but he has also offered cover at left-back, right midfield/right wing-back throughout his career.

His natural style of play is to press forward and support attacks when possible, but he has also looked strong defensively during his time with Stoke City.

career so far

According to Transfermarkt, Bauer began his career with Swiss outfit Winterthur before joining Grasshopper Club Zurich in 2010.

The right-back progressed through the ranks with Grasshopper during his six-year spell with the Swiss side, making 105 appearances in all competitions, and earned a move to Rubin Kazan in 2016.

He spent a-year-and-a-half with the Russian outfit before signing for Stoke in January 2018, while the Potters were still in the Premier League, and initially impressed.

Bauer played in all but one of Stoke’s remaining league games that season under Paul Lambert, but could not do enough to keep them in the top flight.

Gary Rowett replaced Lambert that summer, but Bauer struggled to impress him and Nathan Jones, who was the former’s successor halfway through the campaign; having limited game time under both.

International career

Bauer represented Switzerland at Under-18, U19 and U21 level prior to switching his allegiance to Austria.

The right-back has since played six times for Austria after making his debut in a World Cup qualifier against Georgia in 2017.

when can fans expect to see him?

According to Neil Lennon, Bauer could be thrown in at the deep end and given his Hoops debut in this weekend’s Glasgow Derby at Ibrox.

Twitter: NL on Moritz Bauer: “He’s very fit, good attitude and strengthening up one of the positions we’ve been looking at… https://t.co/O2alatRcpk (@CelticFC)