West Ham United fringe forward Albian Ajeti could be on his way to Celtic on loan, with Hoops manager Neil Lennon stating ‘talks are ongoing’ and Sky Sports claiming a deal is close.
The 23-year-old Swiss striker joined the Hammers last summer after an impressive scoring record for Basel, but found first-team opportunities in London hard to come by last season.
Ajeti was behind the likes of Sebastien Haller, Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio in the West Ham pecking order in 2019-20.
As such, the Hammers forward only made nine Premier League appearance, with all of these outings coming as a substitute.
Ajeti had a run of inclusions in the West Ham match day squad under Manuel Pellegrini, but David Moyes rarely used the 23-year-old after rejoining the Irons.
Celtic boss Lennon was asked about the prospect of the Hammers forward moving to Parkhead on a loan deal and admitted that a deal was in the offing.
“I am not aware of how close we are in doing that (Ajeti deal) – I know talks are ongoing,” the Daily Record state Lennon as saying.
“That’s my position at the minute, it may or may not happen, as is the case with a lot of deals we are trying to negotiate.
“It would be good to get a couple more bodies and obviously you can name them in the UEFA line-up as well.”
One of West Ham’s priorities in this summer’s transfer market must be landing a prolific striker.
Antonio was the Hammers’ top scorer in the Premier League last season, with a late-campaign flurry seeing the 30-year-old finish with 10 goals to his name.
Bid things were expected of Haller, but the French forward only netted seven goals in 2019-20.
Ajeti appears to have failed to settle in England and a loan deal at Celtic could well be the perfect solution to get the Swiss attacker match-fit and firing.