Celtic can sign the next Sinclair with move for "absolutely terrific" star
Celtic appear set to conclude yet another very successful season in style.
On Wednesday night, despite the fact Brendan Rodgers made wholesale changes, the Hoops won 5-1 at Pittodrie, thanks to goals from Maik Nawrocki, Yang Hyun-jun, Luke McCowan, young striker Johnny Kenny and then Adam Idah.
Idah’s goal was his 20th of the campaign across all competitions and, given that Nicolas Kühn and Daizen Maeda had already reached this milestone, this is the first time since 1969/70 Celtic have had a trio of players register 20+ goals.
The Hoops will be presented with a record-equalling 55th Premiership trophy on Saturday, before seeking to complete a sixth treble in just nine seasons when they meet Aberdeen again in the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden a week later.
However, Rodgers is never satisfied, so he is targeting a new winger, in a deal reminiscent of, arguably, the best player he’s ever had across his two stints as Celtic manager.
Scott Sinclair’s Celtic career in numbers
When Scott Sinclair arrived at Celtic from Aston Villa for a reported fee of £3m in the summer of 2016, his career was at a bit of a crossroads, looking to rediscover his best form, joining to link up with Rodgers, who’d previously been his manager at Swansea.
Well, few could’ve forecast how good the Englishman would prove to be, scoring 25 goals during his first season in Glasgow, named Celtic Player of the Year, both the Players’ and Supporters’ awards, PFA Players’ Player of the Year as well as SFWA Footballer of the Year, a clean-sweep of all the individual accolades.
In total, Sinclair scored 62 times in 167 appearances for Celtic, averaging a goal every 185 minutes, and he remains the highest-scoring player at the club under Rodgers across both his tenures as boss.
Highest-scoring Celtic players under Brendan Rodgers |
||
---|---|---|
Players |
Appearances |
Goals |
Scott Sinclair |
148 |
60 |
Moussa Dembélé |
94 |
51 |
James Forrest |
207 |
45 |
Daizen Maeda |
85 |
43 |
Callum McGregor |
246 |
37 |
Leigh Griffiths |
87 |
37 |
Kyōgo Furuhashi |
82 |
31 |
Adam Idah |
70 |
29 |
Odsonne Édouard |
68 |
27 |
As the table outlines, Sinclair is still clear by quite some distance at the top of this ranking although, if Maeda continues to score at this season’s rate next time round, who knows, he could overtake the Englishman by Christmas.
Fast-forward to the present day, with Jota sidelined for up to nine months, Celtic are in the market for a new wide attacker this summer, so they could go into the market to land a replacement
Celtic could sign their new Sinclair
According to a report by Stephen McGowan of the Herald, Celtic are ‘monitoring’ winger Tyrhys Dolan, who is expected to leave EFL Championship club Blackburn Rovers following the expiration of his contract, thereby becoming available for a ‘minimal compensation fee’.
Blackburn manager Valérien Ismaël was desperate to keep the 23-year-old at Ewood Park, labelling him an “important player”, adding that “he’s at a really good age… but [has] a lot of experience already”, however, Rovers were unable to convince Dolan to sign a new contract.
Elliott Jackson of the Lancashire Telegraph believes Dolan is “absolutely terrific”, while writer Kai Watson describes him as “quick” and a “direct… goal threat”, assertions that are supported by the table below.
Tyrhys Dolan EFL Championship statistics 2024/25 |
||
---|---|---|
Statistics |
Dolan |
Championship rank |
Minutes |
3,175 |
86th |
Goals |
7 |
42nd |
Assists |
6 |
18th |
Shots |
50 |
61st |
Shots on target % |
44% |
20th |
Shot-creating actions |
99 |
41st |
Goal-creating actions |
17 |
7th |
Attempted take-ons |
152 |
7th |
Progressive carries |
94 |
27th |
Carries into the final third |
72 |
15th |
As the table outlines, Dolan’s primary strength is his dribbling, with only six players registering more attempted take-ons, despite the fact he only featured in 77% of Blackburn’s total minutes.
Just like Sinclair, Dolan has shown plenty of promise at Championship level.
Before joining Celtic, Sinclair’s most productive campaign came during Swansea’s promotion season under Rodgers of 2010/11, scoring 27 times across all competitions, including a hat-trick in the play-off final victory over Reading at Wembley.
The duo share many of the same attributes: explosive pace, high-quality dribbling skills and an eye for goal.
Thus, if Celtic are able to get this deal over the line, especially considering Dolan is set to become a free agent on 1 July, they’d get their hands on a fantastic new wide attacker.

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