Kjetil Knutsen clarifies Kasper Hogh absence from Bodo/Glimt match | OneFootball

Kjetil Knutsen has moved to clarify Kasper Høgh’s absence from Bødo/Glimt’s latest match amid speculation about a possible move to Celtic Park this summer window…

Høgh’s name appeared on the radar again in connection with the Scottish giants, after a potential deal for Kelechi Iheanacho fell through at the last minute, with the player heading to Bursaspor in Turkey’s second division.

That particular situation has been the subject of much deserved scrutiny from the Celtic support, for the Board’s failure to secure a deal for the Nigerian striker, then seemingly leak nonsense to the media regarding an outlandish wage request to muddy the waters.

Enough on that.

In the meantime, former Celtic managerial target Knutsen has claimed that Kasper Høgh’s absence from the starting line-up in their most recent league encounter was merely to give the big Dane a rest.

The man who netted two goals against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League last season in Norway was named on the bench for his team’s fixture against HamKam, as Andreas Helmersen took the number nine jersey for the game.

Following the match-up, Kjetil Knutsen was quizzed on that surprise omission, perhaps in aid of protecting Høgh from injury in the midst of a multi-million pound move abroad.

However, the manager of the Norwegian outfit said via TV2.no: “The match today is a step in the right direction. The group has worked hard.

“We have had some who have not been here, because they have been involved in other fun things [World Cup, international games], but the group has done extremely well. The whole group is signing up, they need to be ready. We have to work a little and change our players,” Knutsen added.

It perhaps won’t be an update the Celtic fans want to hear regarding Kasper Høgh, as most view the big Danish centre-forward as the perfect statement signing and antidote to what ails us up the top end of the pitch in recent times.

With Martin O’Neill known to like going more direct at times and also putting more emphasis on set-pieces and crosses into the box, Høgh seems like a perfect fit.

The Norwegian side seems to be pushing up the asking price for the Danish striker beyond the £7m that had been previously quoted. Celtic may have to go to the levels that they are receiving from Ipswich Town for Daizen Maeda to bring Høgh to Paradise this summer.

Paul Gillespie

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