Chris Sutton has delivered a blunt assessment of Celtic’s summer transfer business so far, claiming the current squad is weaker than the one that finished last season.
There have been some good additions, but the exits heavily tip the scales, so far.
The former Hoops striker highlighted the departures of Greg Taylor and Nicolas Kuhn, and pointed out that while Kieran Tierney and Benjamin Nygren have arrived to strengthen the team, Celtic have yet to replace like-for-like quality across the board.
Jota being out until the new year also means that Celtic need another winger in the door. Yang and Palma could also both make an exit this summer. So there has to be quite a few deals to just cover the departures.
Sutton wrote in the Daily Record, “As it stands Celtic are weaker than they were at the end of the season. That’s just a fact. They’ve brought in Kieran Tierney and Benjamin Nygren for the first team, but Nicolas Kuhn and Greg Taylor are big losses. You can chuck Jota into that as well.
“It might be a tough one to swallow but he’s not likely to be anywhere near back to his best until the start of the following season.
“He wasn’t quite up to speed when he picked up the ACL and he’ll need a good few months at the tail end of the coming term.
“If he makes any kind of impact over the run-in it will be nothing more than a bonus.”
With the Champions League qualifiers on the horizon and Brendan Rodgers still reshaping his squad, Celtic’s recruitment over the next few weeks will be closely scrutinised.
It’s just the start of the window, but so much more has to be done for St Mirren’s visit to Celtic Park in the first weekend of August. New signings need time to bed in before Celtic start their Champions League journey later that month.
