Ange can land his own Denayer as Celtic eye £7k-p/w gem who has "fire in his belly" - opinion

Celtic have never been shy when it comes to signing players on loan over the years, particularly when it comes to bringing players from English clubs to Parkhead.

One man who the Hoops signed on loan from England and who went on to have a successful spell at Parkhead is Jason Denayer.

Signed on a season-long loan from Manchester City during the 2014 summer transfer window, the centre-back went on to make 44 appearances for the Hoops across all competitions.

In that time, the Belgian scored six goals and delivered two assists as he helped the Bhoys to win the Premiership title and the Scottish League Cup.

Now that a significant period of time has passed since Denayer’s spell in Glasgow came to an end, it seems as though current Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou may have the chance to find his own version of the former Hoops loanee during the upcoming summer transfer window.

Last month, it was reported that the Scottish champions are monitoring Man City defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who – just like Denayer at one point – is on the fringes of the first team at the Etihad Stadium.

The £7k-per-week centre-back, who is a product of City’s youth system, has had loan spells with clubs such as Blackburn, Anderlecht and Stoke.

During his time with the Potters during the second half of the 2021/22 season, the 20-year-old ended the campaign with the joint-highest number of interceptions per game (1.9) and second-highest number of clearances per game (3.5) out of players currently at the Championship club.

Looking back to Denayer’s six Europa League appearances for Celtic in the 2014/15 season, he averaged 1.8 tackles, 1.8 interceptions and 5.7 clearances per game, highlighting the similarity of defensive talents between the two