Tomas Cvancara is on his way to Glasgow to complete a medical and finalise a loan move to Celtic until the end of the season.
The image posted on the striker’s official Instagram story on Tuesday night, showing him on a plane alongside his agent, is understood to be the player travelling to complete the deal. That aligns with reports from German journalist Florian Plettenberg, who has confirmed Celtic will cover 100 percent of the 25-year-old’s wages during the loan.
According to football finance site Capology, Cvancara’s basic salary sits at around €15.5k per week, before bonuses. Celtic are taking on the full commitment, underlining the urgency behind this move and the lack of alternatives available to Martin O’Neill.
There is currently no clarity on the fee attached to the option to buy. That detail is expected to emerge once the deal is formally completed, but for now the focus is firmly on getting a striker through the door.
Cvancara is expected to be available immediately for domestic action and could go straight into contention for Sunday’s trip to Tynecastle to face Hearts.
That in itself tells its own story.
Celtic are so short of options that a player arriving midweek, with minimal time on the training pitch, may still be required to start or feature heavily in one of the biggest league fixtures of the season. Complicating matters further, Cvancara will barely see most of his new teammates before then.
The Celtic squad travel to Italy on Wednesday to face Bologna FC in the Europa League, meaning Cvancara will not meet the bulk of the group until Friday or even Saturday.
Sunday’s match is enormous for Celtic.
A win in the capital would drag the title race firmly back into contention. A defeat would leave Celtic nine points adrift and likely slipping to third in the table, a damaging position at this stage of the season.
Hearts are not without issues of their own. Injuries to Cammy Devlin and Lawrence Shankland have weakened Steven Naismith’s side, but Tynecastle remains a brutal test, particularly for a Celtic team still finding its feet under O’Neill the second time around.
Celtic are betting that, even with limited preparation, Tomas Cvancara’s physical presence and instinct can add something they have been missing.
Whether he can make an immediate impact remains to be seen. But the reality is Celtic need him to. This is not a luxury signing. It is a necessity, thrown straight into the deep end of a title-defining week.
