Celtic have been linked with a move for Liverpool striker Taiwo Awoniyi this month.

The 23-year-old is currently out on loan in Germany with Union Berlin, scoring five times in 14 Bundesliga games this season.

90min reported that the Hoops and Glasgow rivals Rangers are leading the way for the Reds forward, with the Premier League champions considering a sale. The report claimed that Liverpool could pocket more than £5m for his services, which could make him one of Celtic’s 10 most expensive signings of all time.

A Parkhead rebuild seems to be on the cards off the pitch, and we feel that securing Awoniyi’s services could be one of the first steps to a rebuild on the pitch.

Odsonne Edouard’s Hoops future has been up in the air for some time now, with the Frenchman thought to be content to wait until the summer for a move away.

However, we feel that Awoniyi, who is on £60,000-a-week, could be a suitable long-term replacement for Leigh Griffiths. The 30-year-old has endured a rocky relationship with Neil Lennon in the past, with the latter describing the striker as “overweight” and “out of condition” last summer.

The Scot is out of contract with the club in 18 months’ time and has made just four league starts this season.

Statistically, Awoniyi has had a better season than Griffiths in numerous departments, as evidenced by figures from WhoScored. The Nigerian has scored one more goal, has a better aerial duels average (1.4), draws more fouls (1.1) and completed more dribbles (0.8) per game compared to Griffith’s match averages of 0.8, 0.1 and 0.7 respectively for those metrics.

Would you like to see Awoniyi at Celtic Park?

Yes

No

READ CELTIC VERDICT

In terms of the long-term, bringing in Awoniyi and handing him more game-time over Griffiths could be a shrewd move, developing the African’s game further heading into his prime years.

Griffiths has been an excellent servant for the Hoops over the years – he is one of their longest-serving players, a list headed by Scott Brown – but in our view, Celtic need to make some bold decisions if they are to get back to the successes of the last nine years.