Birmingham City, Celtic and Wolves target poised for January transfer move as sporting director update sent

Celtic and their transfer rivals have learned that a star believed to be a winter target is likely to move this window.

Alongside the likes of Birmingham City and Wolves, versatile Basel forward Philip Otele is reportedly on the Celtic radar for a January switch. He’s been at the Swiss side since 2025 but is now set for a new challenge after just over 50 appearances, with chances in the UK claimed to be open to him.

Basel sporting director Daniel Stucki has said that the 26-year-old will take his leave from the club at some stage this month having watched a summer move to Russia collapse. Things are expected to gather pace soon.

Philip Otele transfer latest amid Celtic rumour

He is quoted as saying: "I expect there will also be changes on the wings, especially since we want to streamline the squad during the winter transfer window. The goal is for everyone to know their role and have opportunities for playing time.

"We anticipated Otele's departure back in the summer, which ultimately didn't materialise. With the signing of Jeremy Agbonifo, we foresee a potential departure in the winter. There are many tentative inquiries for Otele. I expect things to pick up soon. We couldn't let him go in the summer for political reasons."

Up next for Celtic boss Martin O’Neill is a Scottish Cup fourth round clash against Auchinleck Talbot, having grinded out a 1-0 Premiership victory against Falkirk midweek in a performance where the Hoops were below-par. O’Neill said afterwards: “Delighted to win the game obviously, we didn’t play too well in the match. It was a struggle for long periods I must admit. I thought that Falkirk did very well in the game, but even so, we can play much better.

Celtic Scottish Cup hopes assessed

“It’s a wee bit strange we’ve gone from playing brilliantly on Saturday to struggling. The goal was a big, big goal for us to get and we saw the game through. But there’s lots of things for us to improve on that particular performance and winning was the most important thing.”

Defender Liam Scales has all eyes on cup progress. He said: “It was the first thing that came into my head when I saw the draw. I’ve spoken about it to the lads as well, you can’t get complacent, but I don’t think really that complacency was the issue that night, they really wanted it a lot. We have to approach this game knowing that this is massive for their players, so we have to be right on it.

“You have to realise that this is a massive tie for them, it’s a massive tie for us obviously, but they are going to play like this is a cup final for them, and we have to be the same. When you’re at this club, you realise that if you don’t win trophies, it’s not considered successful, and that’s fair. Throughout the history of the club and how things have been, we want to maintain that history of success.”