Celtic have been given the green light by new Stoke City boss Michael O’Neill to sign loanee Moritz Bauer on a permanent basis.
The Scottish Premiership champions have an option to buy the right-back at the end of the season, according to a report by the Daily Record.
Baeur, who is an Austria international with six caps to his name, is out-of-favour at the Bet365 Stadium and is not part of O’Neill’s long term plans.
The 27-year-old was shipped out on loan over the summer to Celtic Park having barely featured for the Potters in the Championship last season.
O’Neill has spoken about his situation, as per the Daily Record: “There’s different types of loans. Harry Souttar’s and (Thibaud) Verlinden’s loans are very different from (Kevin) Wimmer’s and Bauer’s loans.”
“Players on loan from a development point of view we have to watch very closely because we believe they have an awful lot to offer the football club. But players out on loan for other reasons, possibly their future lies away from the club and we have to focus on those we believe have a future at the club.”
Bauer joined Stoke in January 2018 from Rubin Kazan but could not prevent them from relegation from the Premier League in his first season at the club.
He signed a new five-year deal with the club shortly after but struggled to break into the team in the last campaign under Gary Rowett and then Nathan Jones.
The full-back has done well at Celtic and is likely to join them permanently now.
