Schalke has stolen a march on Celtic regarding the transfer pursuit of Mathias Kvistgaarden, according to a report.
Football Scotland states that while the striker remains high on Brendan Rodgers' wishlist for the January window, the Bundesliga outfit is leading the race for the 21-year-old's signature.
It's said that the Scottish champions had a £4m bid rejected by Brondby in the summer.
And while they intend to make an improved offer in the upcoming window, they now face some serious competition.
The report states that Schalke has approached the player's representation ahead of next month. They have made an official inquiry and they have scouted Kvistgaarden on more than one occasion in recent weeks.
It's no secret that Celtic are in the market for a forward, especially with Kyogo, Daizen Maeda and Oh all likely to be heading off to the Asian Cup in the early weeks of 2024.
Meanwhile, Cameron Carter-Vickers has pinpointed one area where he believes Celtic need to improve to halt their slump in form and get their Scottish title challenge back on track – breaking down teams with packed defences.
The Parkhead club struggled to beat St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park in the cinch Premiership earlier this month – and have since lost to Kilmarnock away and Hearts at home in the league.
Centre half Carter-Vickers, who returned to action after a spell out with a hamstring injury in the 2-0 reverse the Glasgow giants suffered on Saturday, feels Brendan Rodgers’ side performed far better against Hibernian and Feyenoord because they did not sit back so much.
The United States internationalist is well aware that most of Celtic’s domestic rivals will try to soak up pressure and then score on the counter attack and feels they have to become better at finding their way through five man rearguards.
