There are just a few weeks to go until the summer, and we have heard so many rumours about potential new managers and players, but very few of them feel serious. So, whenever someone sticks up a flag with a creative suggestion I take it seriously.
The other day, Celtic Shorts put up one suggestion which saw my antennae twitch.
If the player is on the club’s radar, Celtic should not hesitate once a manager is in place. If he signs off, we should act quickly and properly for the good of the club.
Celtic do not need another “testing ground” player. We do not need another striker who needs endless time to adapt. We do not need another project who might be ready in two years if everything goes perfectly.
Celtic need a proper, experienced striker.
That is why, as Celtic Shorts suggested, Celtic should have their eyes on Tobias Lauritsen, the Norwegian forward currently leading the line for Sparta Rotterdam. He looks like the kind of player who could give this squad something different: experience, physical presence, reliability and a proper penalty-box threat.
While watching clips of Lauritsen in action, scoring goals, linking play and causing defenders problems, I started thinking, he might be the man for us. The man to make the Celtic Lions roar all over again. The kind of striker who could understand what it means to play for a club like this.
The Ginger Witch has a feeling about this one.
I can see Lauritsen signing for Celtic. I can see him being useful here. He has experience, and he looks like a real danger for defenders because he brings aerial dominance, proven reliability and tactical flexibility.
Lauritsen could be a real danger to our rivals in this league. He is the sort of player who would bring terror to the Ibrox fans, and I can just imagine their faces as a guy like this scores a couple in a big game against them. I am already pissing myself at the thought.
It’s the kind of thing that gets me pure buzzing!
I had a wee look at his path, and it has not been paved in gold. It has been built the hard way.
He came through the lower leagues in Norway, grafting, scoring heavily at Pors, and dragging himself into relevance. Then he stepped up to Odd, where he did not just survive. He learned. He made more than 100 appearances there and developed into a proper top-flight striker.
I always respect that kind of player more. The ones who have had to fight for every inch of their career. They do not crumble when things get tough.
And at Celtic, it always gets tough.
Then I look at what he has done in the Dutch league with Sparta Rotterdam, and this is where I start to lean forward a wee bit. Not one flashy season. Not one purple patch. No, this is consistency.
He has hit double figures in the Eredivisie across multiple seasons with Sparta, and this season he is again in that range, with 11 league goals and 3 assists listed by FotMob and FBref. That matters because we have seen too many strikers arrive on the back of one good spell and then disappear into the Glasgow night.
With Lauritsen, the appeal is the pattern. A steady, reliable drumbeat of goals.
I can almost see it already. A cold night, a tight game, Celtic struggling to break a team down, and there he is. One chance. One finish. Job done.
He would score goals in a more creative team. He is physically strong, which means that he won’t get roughed up by Alex Gogic.
When I watch the clips, I see a proper centre-forward. He is tall, strong and awkward for defenders. FotMob lists him at 194cm, while FootballTransfers lists him at 196cm, so whichever number you take, the point is the same: he is a serious physical presence.
But he is not just a lump. That is the lazy take.
Alongside the goals, he contributes assists, links play and brings others into the game. He occupies defenders and creates space. He gives you something beyond just finishing. There is intelligence there. It is all very functional, and I mean that in a good way.
Because let’s be honest, Celtic do not always need pretty footballers. Sometimes we need someone who is strong and effective. Sutton. Hartson. Those sort of guys.
Some people will turn their noses up at the Dutch league, but I won’t.
We got Giakoumakis from there. And way back in time wasn’t there a guy called Larsson? It is technical, open and demands intelligence. If you can score consistently there, season after season, you should not be dismissed lightly.
I would trust that more than someone doing it for one season in Scotland and suddenly being treated like the next great answer. No disrespect, but we have seen that story before.
Then we come to the money, and this is my interest rises.
The figure being talked about is around £4 million. In today’s market, that is almost modest for an experienced striker with his profile. Transfer valuations vary depending on the source, but several public databases place him below or around that kind of bracket, while January reports suggested Sparta could demand more because of his importance to them.
For Celtic, that is the kind of fee you take a calculated risk on, and I don’t even see this as a wild risk. When a player gives you a baseline of goals, experience, aerial power and link-up play, he can pay that back quickly.
Especially in Scotland, where Celtic often dominate possession but struggle to turn that dominance into clear, ruthless finishing.
I can already hear the counterargument.
“He’s 28. No resale value.” Aye, fine. That old rubbish comeback.
Accountancy pish. Aren’t we meant to be a football team?
Here is where I get blunt: I don’t care about resale value.
Not every signing has to be flipped for profit.
Sometimes you buy a player to win things right now. In the moment. Lauritsen, with years of top-flight football behind him and a proven scoring record across Norway and the Eredivisie, feels like that kind of player.
My Ginger Witch instincts are clear on this one. He might not be a headline-maker signing, but he could be a difference-maker player. The kind of striker who racks up goals and who the spotlight starts to move towards as he gets better.
Celtic dominate games, but how often do we struggle against low blocks? How often do we lack that physical presence in the box? How often do we need a target, an option, a plan B when the pretty patterns don’t quite come off?
Lauritsen seems to give that. A striker who has played more than 100 games at a high level in Norway and more than 120 games in the Dutch top flight is not just a punt.
Is he the dream striker? No, not in the romantic sense. He is not going to have fans singing his name before he kicks a ball. But in a deeper, more practical way, he might be exactly what Celtic need. A little more than Elijah Just.
And I’ll say this plainly. I would take him. Because I trust the consistency. I trust the experience. I trust the profile. Sometimes, just sometimes, it is these sorts of players who go on to win you titles.
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