Celtic have been linked with a move for a Dutch left-back who has been compared to Paolo Maldini – weeks after he was first mooted with a switch to Celtic.
Once in every while, Celtic and Rangers manage to snag a cheap player who goes on to achieve huge things in football; Gennaro Gattuso, Henrik Larsson, Virgil van Dijk, the list goes on. And, whilst there haven’t been many of those in the past couple of years, the standing and reputation of the two Glaswegian giants always allows for top talents to be linked with a move to the second city as a result of their footballing exploits.
With defensive reinforcements needed for both clubs if they are to increase their standing in European football, the European market is something that both clubs generally tap into to find potential bargains and increase their value on the domestic scene.
And according to reports in the Netherlands, Ibrox has emerged as a possible destination for FC Twente left-back Gijs Smal, with the defender being dubbed ‘the new Maldini’.
Smal is out of contract in the summer, though with Borna Barisic not getting any younger and the jury still out on Ridvan Yilmaz, there could well be a vacancy in the left-back rank which Smal has been tipped to take over, alongside Josh Doig of Verona who has been touted for a ‘swap deal’ for Yilmaz.
‘Smaldini’, which he has been coined with due to his similarities to AC Milan legend Paolo, signed for Twente aged 23, and racked up an outstanding 10 assists last season for the former Eredivisie champions.
He was valued at £6million last season but will leave in the summer on a free transfer, though if a club stumps up a fee this month they will be able to land him early to avoid competition for his signing – which Twente transfer chief Arnold Bruggink opened up over.
He said: “Of course we would very much like it if Gijs signed a new deal with us. But both parties have to want that. And we have to be realistic about that part of his future sadly.”
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