Celtic are yet to make a signing this summer with concrete links few and far between in the opening weeks of the transfer window.

However, as Brendan Rodgers, his players and staff start to return to Lennoxtown for pre-season, a few names have begun to surface.

Here, using Wyscout data, we take a closer look at three names being linked with a summer move to the Scottish Premiership champions in recent days to see what they would offer.

Pontus Dahbo

Dahbo General Info

One of the first names to appear over the last week or so was Hacken’s 18-year-old Pontus Dahbo. The young midfielder is the latest talent to emerge from the Swedish champions who have sold players such as Benie Traore and Ibrahim Sadiq for big money in recent times. According to FD, Celtic’s scouts are monitoring Dahbo, who is valued at around £3.4m, closely.

Dahbo Player Stats

Only breaking into the first team last year, the Swedish youth international is yet to feature regularly for Hacken but is regarded as one of Sweden’s biggest prospects. Used primarily off the bench, the left-footed offensive central midfielder has mostly played as an 8 or a 10 for Hacken but also as a right-winger.

Dahbo PR

His percentile rank chart from the last 365 days covers the 2024 Allsvenskan season so far and some of the 2023 league campaign. Playing just over 800 minutes in that time, it is of course a small sample size. However, we can still see Dahbo standing out in a few key areas when compared to his central midfielder peers.

The teenager’s goal threat certainly catches the eye, ranking in the top quartile for goals, xG, shots and xG per shot. Dribbling also appears to be a key part of Dahbo’s game, boasting a high percentile rank for both his volume of dribbles and his volume of progressive runs.

Despite Hacken being one of the more possession-dominant sides in the Allsvenskan (56.59 per cent in the last calendar year), Dahbo’s ranks for volume possession metrics are, perhaps surprisingly, all below the 50th percentile mark. More importantly though, and impressively for a young player, his accuracy for possession metrics all rank above the 50th percentile with his progressive passes accuracy, in the 80th percentile, particularly impressive.

Dahbo’s chance creation metrics (xA and key passes) come in just under the average mark compared to other central midfielders in Sweden’s top flight over the last year and Dahbo still has room for development defensively. He seems willing enough, contesting a just above-average number of defensive duels but his win percentage is amongst the lowest in the dataset. He is involved in even fewer aerial duels and again his win percentage is low here too while his PAdj interceptions per 90 also rank much less favourably versus his positional peers.

A technical player who offers a goal threat, Dahbo, is also a good size at 6’1” (Wyscout have him down at 5’9” but most other sources have him taller). An intriguing prospect, he seems like one the club should continue to keep an eye on, if not for this summer then certainly for future windows.

Andy Rojas

Rojas General Info

Another young player linked to Celtic in the last week or so is Costa Rican forward Andy Rojas.

Rojas, who recently became the youngest player to represent his country at the Copa America, has been a standout for Herediano in his homeland and is tipped to make a move this summer.

Rojas Player Stats

The Scottish Sun claim Celtic are amongst a host of European sides keeping tabs on the 18-year-old attacker who can play anywhere across the front line – most of his minutes have come on the wing but has also played a significant number of minutes at centre forward for his club.

Rojas PR

Like Dahbo, Rojas appears to be more of a goal-scorer than a playmaker. As his chart (which compares him to other wingers/central attacking midfielders in the Costa Rican top-flight) shows, he ranks in the 90th percentile for his non-penalty goals with his xG also ranking favourably, in the 89th percentile. He takes on plenty of shots and looks to have a knack for positioning himself in good scoring areas (high rank for xG per shot).

His key passes and xA numbers rank below the 50th percentile rank and consistent with this, he does not attempt a huge number of crosses compared to his positional peers – his crossing accuracy does rank just above average for a Costa Rican Primera Division winger/central attacking midfielder. Some of this of course may well be attributed to Rojas playing a chunk of his minutes at centre-forward where he would be less likely to provide for others compared to those in the dataset playing exclusively on the wings.

Again, like Dahbo, ball-carrying seems to be a big part of Rojas’ game. He averages a high number of dribbles (81st percentile) and progressive runs (59th percentile), demonstrating an ability to advance the ball effectively.

While not a high-volume passer, Rojas is efficient when in possession. His accurate forward passes percentage ranks in the 90th percentile while his short/medium passes accuracy percentage also ranks comfortably average compared to others in the dataset (70th percentile). Again, impressive for a young player.

His work rate off the ball looks commendable too, ranking in the 75th percentile for his volume of defensive duels and above the 50th percentile for his win percentage.

Another highly rated young player, Rojas could be a good profile for a third-choice centre-forward/additional winger spot in the squad with plenty of scope for further development.

Dara O’Shea

O’Shea General Info

One of the latest links is Burnley defender Dara O’Shea with the Daily Record claiming Brendan Rodgers is keen to land the Republic of Ireland international.

O’Shea Player Stats

Shea made 33 appearances for Burnley in the Premier League last season as The Clarets suffered relegation back to the Championship under Vincent Kompany. Despite that, O’Shea, who has previous experience in England’s top flight while at former club West Bromwich Albion, was one of the Lancashire side’s better performers.

O’Shea PR

As his percentile rank chart shows, which compares him to all Premier League centre-backs who played a minimum of 1,000 minutes, O’Shea has a rounded profile.

Despite Burnley deploying a more possession-based approach under Kompany than previously (they averaged almost 10 per cent more of the ball last season than their previous season in the Premier League in 2021/22), the Dublin-born defender doesn’t immediately stand out as a natural ball-playing centre-back. His accuracy percentages for both his general passes and forward passes rank under the 50th percentile mark.

He attempted a higher volume of longer and also more progressive passes than his positional peers and boasted more impressive ranks for his accuracy percentages in these possession metrics.

The attacking section also shows O’Shea has been pretty progressive through carries. His progressive runs, defined by Wyscout as a continuous ball control by one player attempting to draw the team significantly closer to the opponent’s goal, rank in the 70th percentile. While he didn’t dribble as much, differing from a progressive run in that dribbles are attempts to ‘take players on’, his success rate when did was also favourable, in the 92nd percentile.

His attacking section also highlights O’Shea as a decent threat in the opposition box with his four goals (0.08 per 90) seeing him rank in the 74th percentile for goals.

Finally, most importantly for a defender, his defending section. Here we can see, in terms of volume, O’Shea was much more involved in aerial duels, compared to his positional peers (92nd percentile), than he was in defensive duels (52nd percentile).

He was also much more effective in aerial duels. His win rate in those duels, impressively, ranked in the 88th percentile while he was much less successful in his defensive duels, his won percentage for these types of duels ranking as one of the lowest in the league.

O’Shea only joined Burnley from West Brom last summer for a fee of around £7m, so acquiring him would not be cheap. Especially after delivering a solid performance in the Premier League. If he was to join, he would undoubtedly enhance Celtic's quality in a key position though, an area where the team has faced challenges in both form and fitness over the past year.

Got more transfers cravings? Check out the latest Celtic transfer news and rumours