--- title: "Celtic: Charlie Nicholas thinks Hoops should consider a move for Zinho Vanheusden" canonical: "https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/celtic-charlie-nicholas-thinks-hoops-should-consider-a-move-for-zinho-vanheusden/" type: "post" language: "en-GB" author: "Liam Togher" section: "Features" published: "2020-01-09T12:10:32Z" modified: "2020-01-09T12:10:32Z" --- # Celtic: Charlie Nicholas thinks Hoops should consider a move for Zinho Vanheusden **[Former Celtic striker](https://www.soccerbase.com/players/player.sd?player_id=5845) Charlie Nicholas has identified a Belgian defender who he feels could be an astute transfer target for the Hoops in the January window.** Speaking to the [Daily Express](https://www.express.co.uk/) \[[via Daily Record](https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-transfer-news/charlie-nicholas-turns-celtic-transfer-21232860)\], the 58-year-old named Standard Liege centre-back Zinho Vanheusden as a player who the Scottish champions should consider. Nicholas feels that, if Celtic bring the 20-year-old to Parkhead, they could attract tremendous sell-on value for him further down the line, while he also praised the youngster’s ball-playing ability. He told the [Daily Express](https://www.express.co.uk/) \[[via Daily Record](https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-transfer-news/charlie-nicholas-turns-celtic-transfer-21232860)\]: “One player I have watched quite a bit and heard a lot of good things about is Standard Liege defender Zinho Vanheusden. “The Belgian is only 20 but his wages would be relatively low, although he’d probably cost around £6m or £7m. “Vanheusden is a passing centre-half who is making a good reputation for himself. He would come with big sell-on value potential, which Celtic always like.” Nicholas’ point about the possible sell-on value of a young player like Vanheusden is a very relevant one, given Celtic’s previous in this regard. Moussa Dembele was signed on a [free transfer](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/moussa-dembele/transfers/spieler/229004/transfer_id/1517363) from Fulham in 2016 before moving on to Lyon two years later for £19.7m (as per [BBC](https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/45377409)). Virgil van Dijk cost the Hoops just £2.6m in 2013 (as per [BBC](https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/23004736)) and then sold him to Southampton for five times that amount (£13m, as per [BBC](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/34115519)) in 2015. Victor Wanyama was a £900,00 signing (as per [Scotzine](https://www.scotzine.com/2011/07/victor-wanyama-wins-work-permit-appeal-to-sign-for-celtic/)) in 2011 and, like Van Dijk, he swapped Parkhead for Southampton after two years in a deal reported by [BBC](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22969633) to be worth £12.5m. Nicholas’ description of Vanheusden as “a passing centre-half” is true to an extent, with the young Belgian’s passing success rate of [83.6%](https://www.whoscored.com/Players/337826/Show/Zinho-Vanheusden) better than that managed by Celtic centre-backs Kristoffer Ajer ([83.3%](https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/103/Show/Scotland-Celtic)) and Christopher Jullien ([82%](https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/103/Show/Scotland-Celtic)). His average of [35.4 passes per game](https://www.whoscored.com/Players/337826/Show/Zinho-Vanheusden) in the Europa League group stage was less than both Ajer ([53.8](https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/103/Show/Scotland-Celtic)) and Jullien ([47.2](https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/103/Show/Scotland-Celtic)), although it’s worth noting that he played fewer minutes in the competition ([369](https://www.whoscored.com/Players/337826/Show/Zinho-Vanheusden)) than the Celtic duo ([Ajer 495, Jullien 496](https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/103/Show/Scotland-Celtic)). With Jozo Simunovic a [long-term injury victim](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/09/27/celtic-suffer-injury-setback-jozo-simunovic-four-months/) and Jack Hendry [barely featuring](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/jack-hendry/leistungsdaten/spieler/363223) under Neil Lennon, [defensive midfielder](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/nir-bitton/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/129788) Nir Bitton has [lined out mainly at centre-back this season](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/nir-bitton/leistungsdaten/spieler/129788), which indicates that the Hoops do not have much strength in depth in this sector of the pitch. Therefore, Nicholas is sensibly suggesting that the club should make a move for Vanheusden, a young prospect with passing ability to rival Celtic’s current centre-backs and who would add much-needed defensive depth as well as potentially being sold on at a significant profit in later years, just like Van Dijk, Wanyama and Dembele before him. ***Celtic fans, do you agree with Nicholas’ suggestion of Vanheusden as a possible transfer target for the Hoops? Comment below with your views!***