Celtic could sign ‘Europe’s best striker’

Celtic are aiming to add a new centre-forward to Martin O’Neill’s squad before the January transfer window closes early next month.

Daenen Maeda has been playing out of position as a centre-forward in recent weeks, scoring just one goal in his last six games, and the addition of a striker will allow him to return to playing out wide.

One of the players linked with a move to Parkhead this month is Callum Wilson, who was dropped from West Ham United and could be set to leave the London Stadium.

However, O’Neill suggested in a press conference on Friday that the Hoops were looking elsewhere for a new No. 9 as the interest in the England international was “news” to him.

This suggests Wilson won’t end up at Parkhead before the transfer window closes, which might not be such a bad thing.

Why Celtic should avoid signing Callum Wilson

According to FBref, Wilson is an experienced goalscorer in the Premier League, with four goals and an xG of over 3.6 in England’s top flight this season, suggesting he would be a quality addition to Celtic.

That is true, but he has proven to be an efficient goalscorer at an incredibly high level, so the Scottish giants may be avoiding signing him for good reason.

The 33-year-old centre-forward’s injury history in recent seasons means Celtic are taking a big risk if they decide to use him as their main number nine, as he has consistently missed so many games.

As you can see from the table above, this season has been an outlier for him in terms of appearances, as he was regularly absent from action during his time at Newcastle United.

That’s why Celtic should keep an eye on one of their other reported targets. That’s because there are better players than Wilson to sign.

Striker Celtic should sign instead of Wilson

With the January transfer window in full swing, there are many names being thrown around when it comes to Celtic’s search for a new striker, but there is one player in particular that is of particular interest.

The Scottish Premiership giants reportedly held talks with Celje to sign centre-forward Franco Kovacevic earlier this week as they look to add more strength to O’Neill’s squad.

He would be an even better deal for the Hoops than Wilson, so it is now up to the board to get the Croatian shooter over the line before the deadline.

Celje president Valery Kolotilo recently described Kovacevic as “Europe’s best ‘striker'” and looking at the prolific marksman’s record it is easy to see why he made such a comment.

According to Transfermarkt, Celtic’s transfer target has scored an astonishing 25 goals for the Slovenia national team in 28 games in all competitions, including 12 goals in 13 games in Europe.

As you can see from the table above, only six players in the world have scored more goals than Kovacevic in the 2025/26 season, including world-class players such as Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe.

This shows how impressive his goalscoring has been for Celje this season and why he would be a better addition than Wilson, who has scored just four league goals since the start of last season.

In addition to his impressive goalscoring record, Kovacevic has only missed nine games in all competitions due to injury since the start of the 2020/21 season, according to Transfermarkt, indicating that he is not injury-prone.

This means the Croatian star is far more reliable for Celtic than Wilson, both in terms of ability and quality in front of goal.

That’s why the board must push to get this incredibly prolific star player over the line in the coming days. Because he has the potential to be a great signing for the club.