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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
David Irvine

Celtic target Balikwisha left out of Antwerp squad after transfer fee agreed

Michel-Ange Balikwisha is a notable absentee for Royal Antwerp amid Celtic transfer speculation.

It's understood the clubs have agreed a £4.5m for the forward as Celtic look to bolster their attack this summer.

Balikwisha had been involved in Antwerp's match against Charleroi.

He played 81 minutes in the 1-1 draw in the Belgian top flight last weekend.

However, Balikwisha is missing from the squad for Antwerp against Mechelen this afternoon.

The forward has not been included in the starting XI or the substitutes for the match.

No reason has yet been provided for Balikwisha's absence from the Antwerp matchday squad.


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It's expected that personal terms will not be an issue between Balikwisha and potential new club Celtic.

There have been concerns, though, that a medical may not be straightforward.

 The former Belgium U21 international suffered from muscle injury issues that kept him out of large portions of last season.

Antwerp boss Stef Wils previously stated he expected to lose Balikwisha before the match against Mechelen.

He said: "I had thought beforehand that some outgoing files would be finalized more quickly, yes.

"But I'm obviously not sad that I can still count on them."

After the 3-0 win over Livingston, Brendan Rodgers said of transfer business and a possible deal for Balikwisha: "Well, I think the delegation was at this game were they not? I don't know who else would talk contract talks.

"There's a number of players that we've been at for a number of months.

"So we'll see over the next 48 hours what that looks like."

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