Celtic flop Albian Ajeti set to find new club after shock release from Turkey after just four months
CELTIC flop Albian Ajeti is set to return to hometown club Basel after being released by Turkish outfit Gaziantep.
The 26-year-old made just five appearances and scored one goal for the Superlig team.
Ajeti netted 43 goals in 96 games for Basel before leaving for West Ham for £8million in 2019.
The 11-capped Swiss international didn't make the grade in the Premier League though, registering zero goals in nine appearances in his only year at the London Stadium.
Celtic forked out £5million for the striker's services in summer 2020, adding him to fellow arrivals Vasilios Barkas, David Turnbull, Shane Duffy and Diego Laxalt.
But the 26-year-old's fortunes didn't improve at Parkhead, where he failed to make an impression with just nine goals in 49 games.
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He was sent on loan to Sturm Graz in the Austrian Bundesliga, but once again he didn't meet expectations and returned to Celtic to be sold after scoring three times in 15 matches.
And this season hasn't gone much better for the forward, as Turkish side Gaziantep have terminated his contract just six months on from picking him up from the Hoops.
Ajeti now looks set for a third spell with his hometown club of Basel, for whom he turned out from 2014-2016 and 2017-2019.
The 12-time Swiss champions are enduring a horror season and sit second from bottom in the Super League.
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Meanwhile, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has insisted that Matt O'Riley will not leave the club this month, despite a bid from Atletico Madrid.
The Spanish side made a loan-to-buy offer for the Danish star believed to be worth £20million, which the Scottish champions rejected.
And boss Rodgers has reaffirmed that the 23-year-old won't be sold in this window.
He said: "Matt is a player we don't want to lose and he won't be going anywhere in January.
"He had an opportunity in the summer but he was very happy to extend here and obviously Atletico Madrid is a huge club but he also knows he is in a great place here.
"He has really kicked on this season and he wants to continue with that. We have no want to sell and no need to and he will be here for the second part of the season."
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