Celtic’s hopes of reaching the Champions League group stages for a fourth successive season, something they’ve never previously achieved, are firmly hanging in the balance.
On Wednesday night, at an ultimately mutinous Parkhead, the Hoops were held to a goalless draw by Kairat in the first leg of their play-off tie, mustering just three shots on target, the first time they’ve failed to score in 56 home matches.
The Celts have never won any of their three previous visits to Kazakhstan, losing two, but Brendan Rodgers’ side will make the mammoth 3,500-mile trip east to Almaty next Tuesday needing to change that, or they’ll crash out.
Chants of “sack the board” began as murmurs but ended the night both raucous and vociferous, with Celtic supporters very unhappy about their side’s lack of transfer activity this summer, but could they finally be about to land a target they’ve been chasing for months?
Celtic's lack of cutting edge
As already alluded to, Celtic rarely threatened the Kairat goal, ending the night with a miserly xG figure of 0.44, creating just one Opta-defined big chance, this falling to centre-back Liam Scales, who headed a corner over the crossbar.
That lack of cutting edge will surprise no one, considering two of the Hoops’ starting front three have been sold in 2025, with Kyōgo Furuhashi departing in January, while Nicolas Kühn moved to Como earlier this summer.
The latter’s sale means that James Forrest is currently the first-choice on the right flank and, in fairness to him, he did force goalkeeper Aleksandr Zarutskiy into a spectacular save mere seconds after half-time on Wednesday.
Forrest is an undisputed bona fide Celtic legend, a true one-club man, but at 34 years old, no longer possesses the ability to be an elite-level difference maker in the Champions League, so it is quite clear that more quality is required.
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With that in mind, reports on the continent are revealing that Celtic have “reached a principle agreement” with Royal Antwerp to sign winger Michel-Ange Balikwisha.
They add though that the deal is “complicated”, albeit a medical has been scheduled, suggesting the deal will take place soon.
So, will Balikwisha become the eighth Belgian to don the famous hoops, joining compatriot Arne Engels, while following in the footsteps of such eclectic names as Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo, Jason Denayer, Dedryck Boyata, Joos Valgaeren and others?
Why Michel-Ange Balikwisha should excite Celtic supporters
Fair to say, Celtic hold a long-standing interest in Balikwisha, documented as long ago as early-June.
The 24-year-old is into the final year of his contract, while Royal Antwerp are under further pressure to sell because they failed to qualify for any European competition, beaten 2-1 at Bosuilstadion in a play-off by Royal Sporting Charleroi back in May.
Thus, it is being reported that Balikwisha will cost around £4.5m which, based on the quality he possesses, could prove to be a bargain.
António Mango notes that he is a “direct winger”, while Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout believes he operates best as an “inside forward”, praising his “pace, dribbling, finishing and technique”.
Balikwisha has suffered plenty of injury problems in recent seasons, but has produced plenty of big moments during his Antwerp career, scoring in the 2023 Coupe de Belgique Final against Mechelen, before bagging the clincher a few months later as his side ousted AEK Athens in the Champions League play-offs.
In total, Balikwisha has accumulated 30 goals and 17 assists in 145 appearances for Antwerp, starting all four of their Jupiler Pro League fixtures so far this season, netting during a 3-1 home win over Oud-Heverlee Leuven earlier this month.
So, let’s assess how his statistics compare to those of Forrest in recent seasons.
2025/26 season
Minutes
347
256
Goals
1
0
Assists
Zero
0
2024/25 season
Minutes
1,244
1,220
Goals
4
1
Assists
3
7
2023/24 season
Minutes
3,437
908
Goals
10
7
Assists
8
2
2022/23 season
Minutes
2,962
717
Goals
10
5
Assists
1
2
As the table documents, across the last three full campaign plus the start of this one, Balikwisha has outperformed Forrest every time, reaching double figures in terms of goals in both 2022/23 and 2023/24, something the Scottish international most recently achieved in 2019/20 under Neil Lennon.
While it was a memorable one, Forrest scored just one goal last season, with 22 of his 33 appearances coming as a substitute, underlining that Rodgers does not view the veteran as a key contributor.
Balikwisha, meantime, has proven he can score goals at a high level both in European competition and domestically. Global Football Rankings believes the Belgian top division to be the sixth-strongest in the world, behind only the traditional big five.
Thus, barring another bad injury, Balikwisha will absolutely add creativity and goal-threat to this flailing Celtic attack, so Rodgers will be desperate to see this deal get over the line as quickly as possible, with a trip to Ibrox to come on 31 August.