Celtic 'pushing' for Tiago Araujo instant transfer as £4m star brings two for the price of one bonus

Premiership champions Celtic are trying to sign Estoril star Tiago Araujo for the opening of the January transfer window – according to a report.

The 22-year-old is a former Benfica youth team-mate of Jota and Paulo Bernardo and thrives as both a left-sided wing back and a winger for club and country. And now the Telegraph state Brendan Rodgers is ready to strike and wants the rising star in imminently. It's understood Araujo is valued at around £4m and left-sided cover is high on the agenda.

Araujo was highly regarded within the Benfica youth set-up but plumped for a move to Estoril and has thrived as both a wing-back and when asked to push further up the field. He appears capable of both challenging incumbent left-back Greg Taylor and pushing for game time further up the pitch with Rodgers seeking solution in attack since the departure of Jota to Al-Ittihad in a £25m deal in the summer.

And the move for Araujo would signal the intent of Celtic as boss Rodgers admitted he is seeking to trim the squad with a host of bit-part players seeking exits during next month's window. Rodgers admits the club's wish is to seek untapped gems but believes the first team needs a quality injection in the coming windows.

Speaking last week, he said: “The club’s strategy is to bring in young players and we have done that during the last window. The likes of Yang (Hyun-jun) and (Odin) Thiago (Holm) will show up very well in the future. But I have also said, strategically, that we need quality. And that’s something, hopefully, over the coming years we can improve on.”