Mathias Kvistgaarden, a versatile frontman long-linked with Celtic throughout last summer and in January gone by, has responded to reports about the Hoops’ interest in him.
Still just 21 years old, Kvistgaarden has registered 15 goal contributions in 23 games for Brondby across all competitions this season. Predominantly a centre-forward, the Denmark under-21 internationalist is equally adept out wide and just behind the striker.
It was no surprise that Celtic were linked with a player of the ilk of Kvistgaarden. With a current market value of five million euros (Transfermarkt), he does possess vast resale value.
Recently, the Brondby man opened up on the transfer links in an interview with Danish outlet Tipsbladet. He admitted that he hasn’t heard anything from Celtic but that he is eager to leave his homeland at some point: “I have not spoken to them [Celtic]”, he said.
“The dream is of course to come abroad at some point. It’s every player’s dream, but it’s not something I want to talk about now. I’m sitting here in a Brøndby shirt and I have a season to play. So it doesn’t tickle me at all.”
When Brondby’s season comes to an end in the summer, the Kvistgaarden links may resurface. Celtic’s recruitment department, though, will have undergone an overhaul by then.
The resignations of the head of first-team scouting and recruitment Mark Lawell and lead first-team scout Joe Dudgeon were announced last week. The duo have been placed on gardening leave until the summer when changes to the transfer team are likely to take place.
Whether this will have an impact on existing targets remains to be seen, but the Kvistgaarden links have never seemed to die down. Even the player himself admitted this: “They [articles linking him with Celtic] just popped up if I scrolled through a social media”, he said.
“Then I couldn’t help but see that there was occasionally a picture of me, and then there was something about Celtic.”
