Former Celtic goalkeeper Pat Bonner thinks the Hoops will sign a midfielder in January.
Despite other areas of the squad looking weaker in depth – particularly the frontline – Irishman Bonner reckons manager Brendan Rodgers needs another player in the engine to help supplement Callum McGregor.
One has to admit, the Bhoys bringing in another centre-mid in January would come as somewhat of a surprise.
McGregor, Reo Hatate, Arne Engels, Paulo Bernardo, and Luke McCowan have all proven themselves to be more than ample options for Rodgers, and the boss has even given young Francis Turley minutes this campaign.
Regardless, Bonner thinks the Scottish champions could use a more physical, defensively minded midfielder, particularly for European games, to play alongside skipper McGregor in a double pivot: “Rodgers [is] here for the period,” said the pundit (Sportsound via RecordSport).
“He’s enjoying himself at the moment. He’s building a team. And I think there’s a little bit more to go on. I think he’ll go to the market again and try and find the player that could come in alongside Callum McGregor.
“Callum could play, actually, further forward for the team. But when it comes to Europe, where you’re looking for maybe two players to play in that number six, I think he could do with one, bigger, stronger, but still technically good player. And that may take a bit of money, but it could also be the one that would finish this team off.”
Celtic fans have long wanted a ‘destroyer’ type midfielder, but there would appear to be other priorities in January, and given the Hoops’ current engine room depth, rightly so.
Indeed, Stephen McGowan reported at the end of last week that the Celts are focusing on signing a left winger and a young, third-choice striker next month.
It doesn’t look like Luis Palma has a long-term future at the club, and given Adam Idah and Kyogo Furuhashi are the sole two natural centre-forwards in the building, attending to the aforementioned areas seems wise.
