Published Jun 1, 2026, 7:10 PM GMT+1

Daniel is an experienced football writer and editor, having worked in the football media industry for over a decade. 

After voluntarily writing for Fresh Press for two years, helping to build and establish the Read brand, Daniel started a part-time job with Fresh Press that later turned into a full-time writing and editing role, writing for club-specific pages such as Read Norwich, Read Celtic, Read Liverpool, and Read Arsenal.

Daniel spent just shy of a year writing and editing for Liverpool-based website, Anfield Watch, which included conducting and/or transcribing interviews with Liverpool goalkeeping coach John Achterberg, former Wycombe striker Adebayo Akinfenwa, and journalist Fabrizio Romano.

Since the summer of 2021, Daniel has worked for Snack Media (now Valnet) and has been a contributor to Football FanCast, on a freelance and full-time basis, as a writer and editor. 

Daniel is a Norwich City fan and season ticket holder. He has been heard on BBC Norfolk and helped DAZN with research for their commentary due to his knowledge of the club, along with being featured in several local papers across the country, including the Coventry Telegraph and the Liverpool Echo, for Norwich-related content. 

Daniel's knowledge extends to Scottish football, having covered Celtic and Rangers for several years. He particularly enjoys producing player analysis and producing transfer content.

The Jam Tarts, meanwhile, only conceded 34 goals in the league and had a tougher defence than the Hoops, before they lost several key defenders through injury before the final game of the season.

Cameron Carter-Vickers sustaining an Achilles injury, which kept him out for 44 games this season, played a big part in Celtic's struggles both in and out of possession.

The USA international only played 14 times in all competitions, including seven appearances in the Premiership, and that left Martin O'Neill without a key player for most of the campaign, and all of his tenure.

Celtic in talks to sign new central defender

Celtic often had to play two left-footed centre-backs, in Auston Trusty and Liam Scales, and that led to both defensive lapses out of possession and stagnant play on the ball, even though they still won the league.

Now, the Premiership champions are reportedly looking at a star who could arrive at Parkhead to offer more balance to the manager's backline.

According to Norwegian outlet TV 2, Celtic are one of the clubs eyeing up a deal to sign Sandefjord central defender Zinedin Smajlović in the upcoming summer transfer window.

The report claims that the Hoops, Feyenoord, and Toulouse have all made contact to enter talks around a potential transfer for the Sweden-born centre-back.

It adds that the 22-year-old star is still under contract with the Eliteserien side until the summer of 2028 and that it will take a fee of around £3m or more to convince Sandefjord to cash in on him.

Now it remains to be seen whether or not Toulouse, Celtic, or Feyenoord are willing to pay the money that it will take to snap up the former Lecce defender.

Why Callum McGregor will want Celtic to sign Zinedin Smajlović

One Hoops player who would love for the club to sign Smajlović, perhaps more than any other, is the captain Callum McGregor, because it would make his job easier.

There were several games this season where Trusty was jeered by the Parkhead crowd because he did not feel comfortable stepping forward with the ball on his weaker right foot in a right-sided centre-back role.

That meant that McGregor had to take even more responsibility for progressing the ball from back to front because Celtic did not have natural ball progression down the right side with Trusty, a left-footed player, on that side of the centre-back pairing.

Smajlović's form for Sandefjord in the 2025 Eliteserien suggests that he has far more to offer than the USA international on the ball, as he averaged more than twice as many key passes and ten times as many successful dribbles.The gulf in their respective dribbling numbers is particularly noteworthy because it shows how reluctant Trusty is to step forward with the ball, making McGregor's job harder as he has to drop even deeper to take the ball off the defender.

Celtic's captain would not have that problem with Smajlović, though, as the Sweden U21 international completed one dribble per game in 2025 and is currently averaging 1.3 dribbles completed per match in the Eliteserien in 2026.

The 22-year-old star is a naturally right-footed player who can play on the right side of a centre-back pairing and drive forward with the ball at his feet, pushing the team up the pitch, allowing the skipper to pick the ball up higher up the pitch to score more goals.

McGregor only scored two goals in the Premiership this season, after netting eight times in the 2024/25 campaign, and that may be because of how much extra work he had to go deeper on the pitch because of having Trusty as the right-sided centre-back.

Therefore, the captain would love for the Hoops to sign Smajlović this summer because the Swedish star could be the progressive right-footed centre-back that Celtic need to improve their play in and out of possession next term.