Martin O’Neill hopes Celtic fans are excited by the imminent arrival of Denmark striker Kasper Hogh in a club-record deal.
The Bodo/Glimt forward is set to become Celtic’s second summer signing after the Scottish champions succeeded with an offer understood to be in the region of £11million.
That would match the fee paid to Augsburg for Belgian midfielder Arne Engels two years ago.
Hogh is set to sign for Celtic following the sale of Daizen Maeda to Ipswich in a deal that could be worth up to £10million.
The 25-year-old has scored 36 goals in 63 Eliteserien games for Bodo/Glimt and netted 15 goals in the past two seasons in Europe, eight of them in the Champions League, including a double in a victory over Manchester City.
Speaking after a 2-2 friendly draw with AC Milan on Saturday, O’Neill confirmed Hogh was due to have a medical “in the next 24 hours”.
“Without going too deeply into it, that’s the calibre of player that we’d be looking for, who has scored goals in the Champions League,” he added.
“I’m hoping that players coming into the football club who are of some sort of substance, I think that would be the exciting thing for fans.
“For most of the time that I was here last season, we struggled to score goals. Maeda came up brilliantly for us in the last six or seven weeks of the season, but we didn’t have that recognised striker. So that would be a big plus for us if we can do that.”
Maeda helped fire Celtic to the double with nine goals in the last seven matches of the season.
Thank you for everything, @M_daizen_1020 💚🇯🇵
Wishing you all the very best as you begin the next chapter of your career with Ipswich Town.#CelticFC🍀 https://t.co/RwSQAmR3sX pic.twitter.com/MdfnJZzoX3
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) July 25, 2026
“Naturally, I will miss him,” O’Neill said. “He was in his last year of his contract. Before I came here, the club made him a real big offer, in our terms, at least 16 months ago. And the lad refused to do it in the sense that he wanted to play in the Premier League if he could, or the Bundesliga.
“So I will obviously miss him, but I’m delighted for him at the same time, genuinely delighted for him.
“He deserves the move because he’s been fantastic for the club. We will miss his presence around about the place and Ipswich will be getting somebody that they will grow to really like.”
O’Neill’s only summer signing so far, Colombian striker Camilo Duran, scored and created a goal for James Forrest against Milan to take his tally to three goals in three pre-season matches.
The 74-year-old is confident other signings will arrive. Celtic are looking for a goalkeeper, a left-back and have been linked with Paderborn midfielder Mika Baur and Real Oviedo winger Haissem Hassan.
O’Neill said: “It’s quality that we’ll probably be looking for, and quality at affordable prices is at a real premium.
“We’ve got a few other things in the pipeline that might come to fruition, which would be great for us.
“I’ve got good faith in the people being able to get the players in.”
