Who is Nicolas Kuhn? Celtic transfer 'target' in focus as big gun CV hints Rodgers quality message is being heard

Brendan Rodgers' mantra has been the need for quality in the door at Celtic in January.

Every boss wants the same thing, but after a summer window that saw the champions looking weaker than they did at the end of the previous campaign, it was a message that needed to be heard by the Celtic board. Nicolas Kuhn is the latest name to be linked with a move to Parkhead and while at first glance he seems to follow the usual model, his CV hints at some real untapped potential.

The 24-year-old came through the ranks at Ajax before joining Bayern Munich. Previous clubs are no guarantee of quality of course, but it is an indicator of at least something being there to persuade not one, but two of them to take a chance on you early in your career. Taking a step back to move forwards is a necessity for thousands of players, and if that's the case with Kuhn, then the best could be yet to come.

Record Sport takes a closer look at the latest name to be linked with the Premiership champions.

The German - full name Nicolas-Gerrit-Kuhn - was born in Wunstorf and started out with St Pauli before making the switch to Hannover 96 as a 13-year-old. After impressing there, he moved up again to RB Leipzig and progressed to their Under 19 side and caught the eye in the Europa Youth League.

That persuaded Ajax to spend €2million on him in January 2018. The plan was for him to continue developing in their second team before making the step up to top team level. However, Bayern Munich came calling in January 2020 and Kuhn signed a six-month loan deal, which became. a three-year contract that summer.

He spent the 2021/22 season on loan at Erzgebirge Aue, who had an option to buy. But relegation saw them pass on that and Kuhn returned joined Rapid