Celtic Close In on PSV Wonderkid Joel van den Berg

Celtic could be closing in on another exciting young midfielder.

Reports from the Netherlands claim Joel van den Berg is now a serious Celtic target, with a delegation from the Scottish champions already in Eindhoven to discuss a potential transfer.

And this one is particularly interesting.

Van den Berg is only 19, but he has already made his senior debut for PSV and is the captain of the Netherlands Under-19 side. He stands at 6 ft 2 in and operates primarily as a central midfielder.

A Player With Plenty of Potential

Last season, Van den Berg made five appearances for PSV’s first team while regularly featuring for Jong PSV.

His numbers at reserve level were impressive, too.

Seven goals and four assists in 26 appearances.

He’s also started this season strongly, scoring twice in his opening three games for Jong PSV.

That is the sort of profile Celtic should be looking for.

Young.

Tall.

Technically capable.

Already exposed to first-team football.

And coming from an elite academy.

Another Midfielder?

Some supporters will inevitably look at this and ask why Celtic are considering another midfielder when there are still obvious gaps elsewhere.

But the answer could be the age profile.

Van den Berg isn’t being signed to immediately to become the sole answer to the midfield problems exposed by LASK.

He’s a player who could develop into a major asset.

And with Celtic trying to rebuild the midfield another high-potential signing makes sense.

A Different Kind of Signing

After the disappointment of LASK, Celtic needs immediate quality.

But we also need to operate in our financial model of buying low and selling high.

Van den Berg represents the latter.

He isn’t the finished article.

That’s the point.

Celtic could potentially take a highly-rated PSV youngster, give him first-team football, develop him and potentially turn him into a major player.

The bigger question now is whether this is another name that gets discussed for weeks or whether the board actually gets the deal over the line.

Because supporters have heard enough about potential signings.

Now we want to see them wearing the shirt.