The inside story of Nicolas Kuhn as Celtic transfer target had giddy Germans raving about the 'next Messi'

Nicolas Kuhn has a CV featuring some of the biggest clubs on the continent. The Celtic target is also in not bad company.

The 24-year-old Rapid Vienna wide man was rated as one of Germany’s great prospects not so long ago, winning the prestigious Fritz Walter Medal for young players, a gong that also sits on the mantelpieces of stars such as Kai Havertz, Mario Gotze, Timo Werner and Julian Brandt. And it's not just in Scotland where folk can get a bit carried away by youngsters on the cusp of breaking through.

The Germans can get a bit excited as well and some rather giddy observers spotted Kuhn as a kid at RB Leipzig and declared him as the next Lionel Messi. So he might have something in common with Ryan Gauld as well. But it’s clear Kuhn had a sky high rating as a kid. His performances for Leipzig earned him a move to Ajax, where he was recruited by his hero Marc Overmars and played for the youth and second team under former Motherwell hero and now Man Utd no.2 Mitchell van der Gaag and Dutch legend Michael Reiziger.

From there he was picked up by Bayern Munich after his former RB coach Michael Baum pitched up in Bavaria and despite now managing to make the breakthrough into the first team, it was still a minor surprise when he headed to Rapid for just £500,000 in the summer of 2022.

Reiziger raved about the kid when he was at Ajax and then boss Erik ten Hag was also an admirer. Reiziger said: “He is a great talent with fantastic technique. He is a very explosive player who can also score very easily He is technically gifted, intuitive, has a fast dribble, is explosive in the first metres, goal-oriented, sees the game and is eager. It's wonderful to work with players who you only have to slow down. We brought him in