Celtic should look at signing Genk midfield star Bangoura | OneFootball

Watching former Celtic striker Oh dump theRangers on their own doorstep was extremely enjoyable, but one other player in the Genk side impressed me very much, and that was midfielder Ibrahima Sory Bangoura…

theRangers v Genk, Europa League at Ibrox on 25 September 2025: Ibrahima Sory Bangoura Genk. Photo Alex Todd

I don’t make a habit of watching the Ibrox club outwith when Celtic play them, but I’ll make an exception on certain occasions such as Thursday due to the Oh connection.

It has to be said that it was a mixed night for the South Korean international, and he certainly didn’t look worthy of the £28 million that was said to have been offered for his signature in the summer transfer window. Apparently that was all a massive mistake anyway and actually shows just how crazy football can be at times. When the mistake was realised the deal was called off around some non-existent medical excuse.

Anyway at Ibrox Oh did however have the last laugh on the night, by scoring what proved to be the winner after passing up several gilt edged opportunities and fluffing his lines from the penalty spot. Oh aside, the man who really caught my eye was Oh’s teammate, 21 year old Guinea born Bangoura.

Standing at 6ft 3 inches tall Bangoura stands out in the middle of the park not just because of his height and physicality, but his overall ability as a footballer. He is someone who has what it takes to go to the very top.

Bangoura also possess requirements that we badly lack in midfield. Strength, power, presence, and the ability to move between defence and attack.

According to transfermarkt Bangoura is rated in the £8 million bracket, and it would most likely take a bid upwards of £12 million to secure his signature, but with our current board it’s most likely a non starter.

But a player of his quality is who we should be targeting if we harbour any ambitions of moving forward. Hopefully Brendan was watching that game too as I’m sure he’d have taken notice.  Yesterday The Celtic Star asked the Celtic manager about work that’s going on for what will hopefully be a more satisfying January transfer window.

Brendan Rodgers, Celtic Glasgow press conference ahead UEFA Europa league match against Crvena zvezda at Rajko Mitic stadium, Belgrade 23.09.2025 Belgrade Rajko Mitic stadium Serbia Photo VM/MN Press

The Celtic Star: On looking forward has there been anything discussed so far about changes that are going to be made for the January transfer window so that we can avoid similar dramas of the summer window?

Brendan Rodgers:  “I really hope so. At this moment in time, for me, the scouting team know exactly what we’re after and what we missed out on in the summer market. So again, a lot of work going on into that. It’s a smaller window, of course, so you have to be slick, you have to be prepared and ready and look to get the business done as early as we possibly can. So I’d be hopeful that we could learn from that and hopefully close that out better in the January window.”

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