Celtic hoisted the Scottish Premiership title for the third time in a row on Saturday, much to the delight of their fans after a gruelling season on domestic soil – and with Brendan Rodgers aiming to avoid another title cat-fight with bitter rivals Rangers next term, reports have suggested that the club are confident they can tempt Jake Clarke-Salter into joining from QPR.

The Hoops looked to have lost the league title to the Gers at the start of April but a series of poor results from the Light Blues saw Celtic reclaim their grip at the top of the table – winning the title, and ultimately qualifying for Champions League football next season. That will be a huge pawn to use when tempting new players to the east end of Glasgow – and Clarke-Salter could be wowed, according to reports.

Jake Clarke-Salter: Celtic Transfer News Latest

The Hoops are reportedly looking at the QPR defender

Football Insider state that Celtic are hoping to convince Clarke-Salter to move to Scotland, with the ‘hope’ that eight games of Champions League football will be enough to sway his decision after they qualified for the league phase of the tournament.

Earlier reports had suggested that the Scottish Premiership champions were ‘confident’ at meeting QPR’s asking price for the centre-back, which is thought to be a fee of around £5-7million.

Celtic are flush with cash after the £25million sale of Jota last season, as they only spent around half of that in the summer; and having won the league again and thus qualifying for Europe’s elite competition, their budget will be boosted further due to the riches on offer. That sum could potentially rise even more should Jeremie Frimpong move on from Bayer Leverkusen after reported interest from Manchester United after Celtic inserted a sell-on clause into his £11million deal back in 2021.

Clarke-Salter, the report states, is also wanted by English clubs. Premier League outfits Crystal Palace and Bournemouth are chasing his signature, as are recently relegated Burnley – and even though Celtic will find it tough to match the wages on offer in the Premier League, they are hopeful that playing some of the continent’s biggest clubs will be enough to tip Clarke-Salter’s mind.

The former Chelsea youth man is a key target for the Hoops, with Brendan Rodgers thought to be targeting a player to go alongside Cameron Carter-Vickers at the heart of their defence.

A Centre-Back Signing Will Be Paramount to Celtic’s Success

The Hoops have lacked at the back in recent seasons

The signings of Maik Nawrocki and Gustaf Lagerbielke in the summer haven’t quite worked out, and whilst Liam Scales has filled in well at centre-back this season, an upgrade is needed and expected if Celtic are to make a dent in European football having crashed out of the group stages without even a whimper over the past two seasons.

Clarke-Salter’s experience in the Championship will be looked at in a positive manner; Celtic did have Carl Starfelt at the back, but his move to Celta Vigo continues to leave a gaping hole in defence.

With Joe Hart leaving, there is even more of an onus to sharpen up the defence and with a talent-clad midfield of Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate and Matt O’Riley, a watertight backline could make all the difference under the lights at a fiery Parkhead.