Ange can land the next Boyata as Celtic eye "incredibly fast" £3.15m-rated dynamo - opinion

Celtic have a track record when it comes to signing players from English clubs over the years, either on permanent or loan deals.

One club in particular with whom the Hoops have done a significant amount of business is Manchester City.

Over the past 10 years, Celtic have secured deals for the likes of Jason Denayer, Patrick Roberts and Olivier Ntcham, among others, from the Premier League champions.

Another player that the Bhoys brought to Parkhead from the Etihad Stadium is Dedryck Boyata. In 2015, Celtic paid £1.5m to secure the defender on a four-year deal from City.

During his four years in Glasgow, the Belgian made 135 appearances before leaving in 2019 for Hertha Berlin after a reported clash with former Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers.

Now that some years have passed, it seems as though the Hoops may have the chance to sign what could be their next version of Boyata, but hopefully without the reported behind-the-scenes issues.

Last month, it was reported that the Bhoys have their eyes on potentially making a move to sign City defender Ko Itakura.

Along with sharing the same connection with the Manchester club that Boyata had, the former Hoops defender is also listed as a similar player to Itakura according to Football Transfers.

The pair also share a knack for being solid defensive units as well. Looking back to the seven matches that Boyata played in Celtic’s 2018/19 Europa League campaign, the centre-back averaged 1.9 tackles, 2.3 interceptions and 2.6 clearances per game.

As for the current City defender, he averaged 1.4 tackles and 1.4 interceptions per league game during his recent loan spell with Schalke.

While these statistics may not be as high as the 31-year-old’s during his period with the Hoops, the