This may sound ironic due to his own performance in the match, but Celtic’s draw with Kilmarnock has proven that the club shouldn’t let Kristoffer Ajer leave this summer.
Ajer was by no means superb in Ayrshire. Indeed, the 1-1 draw didn’t see him come to the rescue at any point in the match. However, he was slightly better than the man playing alongside him.
Many see Ajer’s partner, Christopher Jullien, as the number one centre-back at the club. He cost the Hoops £7million to sign him from Toulouse last summer after all (Scottish Sun).
However, it was Jullien who once again allowed the ghosts of his past to haunt him at Kilmarnock.
Last season, Jullien had often struggled with physical threats. The big Frenchman couldn’t deal with Lyndon Dykes of Livingston when Celtic travelled to the Tony Macaroni Arena on two occasions. He also had issues dealing with Hamilton’s Marios Ogboe and Ross County’s Ross Stewart respectively, just to name a few.
Jullien is still warming up this season
Yet with a new season bringing an air of freshness to Celtic Park, we all would’ve hoped Jullien’s issues with powerful centre-forwards was going to be a thing of the past. It isn’t.
After Ogboe had his moments once again vs Jullien last weekend, the big centre-back was bullied by Kilmarnock’s Nicke Kabamba. On several occasions, the Killie man easily darted past Jullien and won a penalty against him to cost Celtic two points.
If Jullien is going to be our number one centre-back this season, he needs to be more convincing when it comes to dealing with physical strikers. That’s exactly why the sale of his partner Kris Ajer should now be considered an absolute no-go for now.
Ajer has been linked with a £25million offer from Serie A heavyweights AC Milan (Sunday Post). However, if Celtic were to let him go, we would be leaving ourselves with only Jullien and potentially Hatem Elhamed as senior centre-backs. That’s if you’re willing to move Elhamed from right-back too.
Celtic have allowed Jozo Simunovic to leave the club after his contract came to an end. Jack Hendry, meanwhile, is away out on loan. The club has Stephen Welsh coming through in the academy, but this isn’t the season to go taking big risks at the back. Not when 10-in-a-row is up for grabs.
We already need another centre-back as it is given our summer losses/departures. Allowing Ajer to go would still have been questionable if Jullien had looked convincing. But as it stands, the Frenchman still has plenty to prove before we can pin our hopes on him every week.
At the moment, Ajer still looks the more comfortable of the two when dealing with strong strikers. The Norwegian has a mistake or two in him, granted, but he still looks more stable than Jullien. This afternoon was a prime example.
Ajer, signed by Ronny Deila back in 2016, simply can’t be allowed to leave yet. Jullien proved today that he can’t be 100% trusted to be our main man. Until he does, or another big-money centre-back comes in, Ajer needs to be kept in Glasgow.
In other news, John Hartson certainly wasn’t pleased with several Celtic stars after today’s Kilmarnock stalemate.
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