Forget Bamford: Celtic's ideal next free agent striker signing is obvious as opportunity finally arrives

It’s fair to say that Celtic’s transfer deadline day didn’t go entirely according to the plan. There was a glaring need for strikers – but in the end, their attempts to lure some fresh attacking players to Parkhead unravelled.

Kasper Dolberg chose to move back to Ajax instead and a last-ditch effort to loan David Datro Fofana from Chelsea hit the rocks when he chose to stay local and move to Charlton Athletic instead in a deal that ended up falling through anyway. In the end, Celtic only managed to sign Sebastian Tounekti, a winger rather than the centre-forward that was required.

Since the deadline passed, Celtic have at least announced the acquisition of free agent Kelechi Iheanacho, but the Nigerian has only managed 15 league goals in the past four seasons and was something of a flop at both Middlesbrough and Sevilla, who let him go. Several sources suggest that Celtic want one more forward to hedge their bets – but is Patrick Bamford, the player most frequently linked with a move, really the answer?

The case against Patrick Bamford’s proposed move to Celtic

Bamford left Leeds United a year ahead of his contract expiry following their promotion to the Premier League and it wasn’t considered much of a surprise. The 31-year-old forward made 18 appearances last season but didn’t start a single game and failed to find the back of the net. His time in England’s second tier was up.

Bamford continues to be dogged by the persistent fitness issues which have plagued him since 2021, just after he scored a vastly impressive 17 goals for Leeds in the Premier League. Bamford has missed at least two months of football in every season since, and spends as much or more time battling to reach full fitness as he does on the pitch.

It’s now 15 months since Bamford last scored a senior goal. When fit over the past few years, his scoring record hasn’t been too bad – he went at the equivalent rate to a goal every 180 minutes when he did get on the field in 2023/24 – but not only is there scant evidence that Bamford is still the threat he was once in front of goal, but he can hardly be described as reliable.

Celtic need goals, a fact rather plainly emphasised by recent failures to score against both Rangers and Kairat Almaty, and adding another forward who has failed to produce in recent years - one who is likely to spend long periods on the treatment table to boot - seems like a dubious strategy.

Of course, with the transfer deadline passing on Monday evening, Celtic are restricted to signing free agents and there is little quality to choose from, but they surely need a player who can reasonably be expected to play 90 minutes week in, week out if nothing else. As it happens, there is another experienced striker on the market who may offer a better option for Brendan Rodgers.

The free agent striker who could solve Celtic’s striker struggles

Around the same time that Bamford was shining in the Premier League, Karl Toko Ekambi was scoring freely in Ligue 1 for Lyon, bagging 26 goals in two seasons in the French top flight after moving there from Villarreal. The 32-year-old has never been quite as prolific since, but he has mostly continued to score at a steady clip since moving to Saudi Arabia, where he has played for both Abha and Al-Ettifaq.

Now, Toko Ekambi, who has earned 61 caps for his country and scored 14 goals in the process, is a free agent again after his 18-month deal with Al-Ettifaq ended. He didn’t have the best time in front of goal last season, granted, but at least he did hit the back of the net three times more than Bamford did.

That isn’t the best reference point, not least because Toko Ekambi was frequently used as a winger rather than as a striker, but the versatile Cameroonian has still played more games as a centre-forward across the course of his career than he has in any other position.

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He’s also a powerful presence up front, strong, fast and able to bully defenders even if he isn’t generally considered a great technician. Crucially, he also has a good fitness record – he is recorded as having missed only three weeks of football over the past two seasons. That’s a significant advance on Bamford, who has missed around five months in-season over the same timeframe.

According to Africa Foot, several sides are in the market for Toko Ekambi, including former side Angers in France and Spanish outfit Rayo Vallecano. Two teams in Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues still seem to feel as though he can do a job for them – it stands to reason that there is every chance that he could still flourish in the Scottish Premiership.

Celtic are begging rather than choosing their next signing given how few talented forwards are currently without a club, but if given the option, it surely makes sense to take a chance on a striker who is, at the very least, likely to be available for long periods of the season. With Bamford, that’s asking for a minor miracle to take place. With a player like Toko Ekambi, it’s a rather more reasonable expectation.