Celtic make move for Lorient striker Mohamed Bamba

In partnership with

The Celtic Star

·19 January 2026

Celtic make move for Lorient striker Mohamed Bamba

A reasonably credible French outlet today reported that Celtic has made a loan offer with an option to buy for Lorient striker Mohamed Bamba…

Paris FC Vs FC Lorient – Ligue 1 – 03/10/2025 Mohamed Bamba FC Lorient, photo IMAGO Michtof

Sport.fr report: ‘Having lost his form at Lorient, Mohamed Bamba could revive his career in Scotland. Celtic Glasgow have submitted a loan offer with an option to buy for the Ivorian striker, who is under contract with Les Merlus until 2028.

OneFootball Videos

‘After a promising start to 2024, the player has only managed one Ligue 1 goal this season. Now second in the pecking order for the attack, his playing time has dwindled. Lorient are considering the offer from Glasgow for this coming winter.’

Mohamed BAMBA during the Ligue 1 match between Nantes and Lorient at Stade de la Beaujoire on November 23, 2025 in Nantes, France. Photo IMAGO/FEP

Celtic have been operating without a recognised striker for most of this season, relying on rookie hopeful Johnny Kenny and project club signing Shin Yamada with free agent signing Kelechi Iheanacho playing an occasional part when fit after signing the day after the summer transfer window closed with Michael Nicholson drawing a blank in hie endeavours to replace former talisman Kyogo who left the club at the end of January 2025.

Kyogo Furuhashi of Birmingham City celebrates scoring his team’s first goal during the Carabao Cup first round match between Birmingham City and Sheffield United at St Andrew’s at Knighthead Park on August 13, 2025. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

The 24 year-old Ivory Coast striker looks likely to be Celtic’s second attempt at replacing Kyogo having had an approach for Birmingham striker Furuhashi turned down by the Championship side managed by the former assistant manager at Celtic, Chris Davies.

Johnny Kenny of Celtic celebrates scoring the opening goal during the Scottish Cup Fourth Round match between Auchinleck Talbot and Celtic at Rugby Park on January 18, 2026. (Photo by WM Sport Media/Getty Images)

Bamba has scored one goal this season (against Monaco) while Furuhashi has managed to score twice. Johnny Kenny, meanwhile has found the back of the net on six occasions in this campaign.

Bamba started out at Bouake in his homeland before moving to Hapeol Rishon LeZion in Israel where he finished as the top scorer of Israel’s second tier in 2022-23 with 20 goals. That earned him a move to Wolfsberger in Austria in the summer of 2023 he scored six goals in 15 appearances, which caught the attention of Lorient.

The player has been sidelined recently due to disciplinary issues at Lorient but was back at the weekend coming off the bench with a quarter of an hour remaining, again against Monaco but this time he didn’t score.

Lorient signed Bamba in January 2024 for a fee of around €5million on a four-and-a-half year deal. Presumably they will be looking to recoup as much of that fee as possible while Michael Nicholson will probably be looking at some lowballing.

Adam Idah of Celtic celebrates after scoring his team’s third goal during the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Semi Final match between St Johnstone and Celtic at Hampden Park on April 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

A lesson from the Adam Idah loan signing for Celtic should be to get the transfer fee tied down at this stage. If the player arrives but fails to impress then he goes back to France. If he is successful and the club wants to sign him in the summer then they’ll know the price.

In the case of Adam Idah, Celtic failure to do that with Norwich City, meant that the £3m transfer valuation in February 2024 more than tripled due to Idah’s exploits while on loan at Celtic, which included scoring crucial goals in a tight title battle against theRangers and also the winner in the Scottish Cup Final against the latest Ibrox club.

Chris McKay, Michael Nicholson and Brian Wilson – Auchinleck Talbot v Celtic, Scottish Cup 4th Round, Rugby Park. Sunday 18 January 2026. Photo Vagelis Georgariou ( The Celtic Star)

And having to overpay for the Ireland striker probably went a long way to ultimately his failing to make a longer stay at the club, with Michael Nicholson selling him off to Swansea City late in the summer window, making it two strikers sold and not replaced in the previous two windows by the ‘world class in everything we do’ Celtic CEO.