Celtic linked with MLS star Wil Trapp as Brendan Rodgers eyes reinforcements

Celtic have been credited with an interest in American international Wil Trapp.

The defensive midfielder’s time with Columbus Crew in MLS looks to be nearing an end and reports in the States are linking the 25-year-old with a move to the Scottish champions.

Trapp, who has spent six years with the Crew, holds a Greek passport through his maternal grandfather, making any potential switch to a European league more straightforward.

He has 177 senior appearances under his belt for Columbus, and two goals.

Wil Trapp in action for Columbus Crew against Toronto at the MAPFRE Stadium in November, 2017. Picture: Getty Images

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His link to Celtic comes hours after the Hoops confirmed the arrival of fellow American international Timothy Weah on loan from Paris Saint-Germain on a deal until the end of the season.

However, the club poured cold water on talk linking them with another MLS standout, Houston Dynamo’s Honduran striker Alberth Elis.

In 2014, then New York Red Bulls striker Thierry Henry sang Trapp’s praises, saying: “Wil Trapp was outstanding today. I know [Feederico] Higuaín usually gets all the [credit], and their striker [Aaron] Schoenfeld will get credit because he scored two goals, but Wil Trapp was the key. Wil Trapp does his job. He brings the ball out for them and it’s difficult to stop.

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“He has, hopefully for him, a good future. He’s American, you guys should be happy, but today I thought he was the difference.”

A regular feature of the USA’s underage national teams with 30 caps in total for the Under-18, Under-20 and Under-23s, Trapp - who has featured 11 times for the senior side - played in his country’s 3-0 defeat to England at Wembley in November last year.

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Trapp was named an MLS All-Star in 2016, and won the US Soccer Young Male Athlete of the Year prize in 2013. Two years earlier he was named the Mid-American Conference Men’s Soccer Newcomer of the Year and in 2015 played the full 90 minutes as Columbus lost to Portland Timbers in the MLS Cup final.