Celtic have reportedly bid for Nobel Mendy, adding a 21-year-old Rayo Vallecano defender to a summer search that has not yet produced a signing. The move points to a multi-club chase, with Eintracht Frankfurt and Stuttgart also said to have bid for him.
Matteo Moretto on Mendy
Matteo Moretto has claimed Celtic submitted a bid for Mendy, and that Frankfurt and Stuttgart have done the same. That makes the situation more than routine interest: three clubs have now been tied to the same defender, and Celtic are in that race while trying to strengthen a squad that has yet to add anyone in the window.
Mendy is 21 and made 26 LaLiga appearances last season. He also helped Rayo Vallecano reach the Conference League final, so the appeal is obvious for clubs looking for a young centre-back who has already handled senior football at a steady level.
Martin O'Neill's defence
Martin O'Neill wants to bolster his defence, but Celtic are being linked with another centre-back even though the bigger needs elsewhere are said to be more urgent. A striker, a starting goalkeeper and replacements for Arne Engels and Daizen Maeda are described as the main priorities, yet the reported bid for Mendy shows the club is still active on a different line of the pitch.
Celtic's current centre-back group is made up of Auston Trusty, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Liam Scales, with Dane Murray and Maik Nawrocki also on the books. The reported pursuit of Mendy suggests the club is looking for depth and competition rather than waiting to fix the defensive picture later.
£6.4m comparison
The reported chase has another layer because Mendy was valued at £6.4m in the earlier transfer talk that linked him with Rangers last summer. That gives a rough market marker, even if the details of Celtic's own bid are not explained here, and it leaves the comparison point clear for any club weighing whether to move from interest to a concrete deal.
For Celtic, the practical next step is simple: either the bid turns into a deal, or the club keeps looking while Frankfurt and Stuttgart stay in the frame. The defender is only 21, already has 26 LaLiga appearances behind him, and now sits at the centre of a three-way contest that could move quickly if one offer proves stronger than the rest.
