Ex Rangers ace with 'excellent' Celtic connections to broker latest summer transfer as 'personal terms' agreed

A former Rangers star is said to be on the case of brokering Celtic’s move for Paderborn star Mika Baur.

The midfielder has shone in the Bundesliga 2 and is claimed to be closing in on joining the Premiership champions. Celtic’s board have been under fire for slow recruitment with just striker Camilo Duran signed so far this summer and exits for key stars like Daizen Maeda expected. Now Baur could bolster their midfield thanks to a star formerly of rivals Rangers.

Christian Nerlinger is also the agent of Nicolas Kuhn, who came to Celtic from Rapid Vienna, before a big money move to Como. He played for Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund as a player and had a three-year stretch at Rangers towards the end of his career. He’s well-connected at Celtic now though after recent dealings and it’s believed he will be key in the Baur deal.

What former Rangers star is brokering latest Celtic transfer for Mika Baur?

Sky Germany reporter, Florian Plettenberg, stated: “Celtic are now pushing to sign Mika Baur with immediate effect. 22 y/o central midfielder is keen to join Celtic and personal terms are not an issue. Negotiations with SC Paderborn have now started. Agent Christian Nerlinger, who has excellent connections to Celtic, is working on the deal. Schalke 04 were also strongly interested as revealed, but Celtic are now in pole position.”

Transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano added: “Understand Celtic have reached an agreement with Mika Baur on personal terms. Club to club talks ongoing with Paderborn.”

Kuhn said in 2024 of the former Rangers star’s influence ahead of an Old Firm clash: “I am looking forward to the game against Rangers a lot. I have heard a lot about it from my manager, Christian. He played for Rangers and before I came here he told me a lot about the match and how important it is to the people. There haven’t been any jokes yet, but I think he’s a Celtic fan now!”

Why did Nicolas Kuhn join Celtic?

“He played a big part in me signing for Celtic. He told me a lot about the club and how great it is. Of course, there is pressure. But I played at Bayern and they also want to win every game there. I like derbies. At Bayern, we had the derby with 1860 Munich and that was pretty big. I’ve had some good derbies already.

“Of course, this one is massive. I want to play every game. We have a really good team and we are all challenging each other. We are all competing and putting pressure on each other for places in the team.”