Celtic have 15 days to pull off 3 big signings

By David Walton

June 30, 2021

Celtic are running out of time to pull off three critical signings ahead of the UEFA Champions League qualifiers.

The Hoops may face Midtjylland in 20 days at Celtic Park, but the deadline to register our squad to UEFA is on July 15. That’s scarily only just over two weeks away.

Ange Postecoglou has been taking the time to get his feet under the desk at Celtic Park. However, the truth is that we’re actually already running out of time to strengthen before the second qualifying round of Europe’s major competition.

This is why Celtic wanted their manager in as early as possible. So that we would be prepared for the recruitment side of things before Europe got underway. Whilst Dom McKay admitted he’s ready to invest, we need players in immediately and not several weeks down the line.

Looking at the squad just now, there are three glaring additions Celtic need to make. Two further centre-backs is essential if we want to have as strong a centre-back partnership as possible. Given Kris Ajer is reportedly unhappy with the club for rejecting offers for his services this summer, we really should be avoiding playing him if possible. Goodness knows where his head is at.

That would leave a partnership of Stephen Welsh and Nir Bitton. No. Celtic need to be a lot stronger than that when the Midtjylland tie comes around.

Mario Vuskovic is a start, but Celtic need to keep going

Whilst we’ve been reported to be putting the final touches on Hajduk Split’s Mario Vuskovic [Sportske Novosti], we still need more. Another centre-back, whether it be Erik Sviatchenko, Piero Hincapie, or any other alternative, should remain a priority over the next fortnight.

And the final signing we need to make is at right-back. We simply can’t go into the Champions League reliant on Anthony Ralston. That would be a massive sign that we’ve gone into the games under-prepared.

The Celtic support don’t want to see that from the board. They want to see action, and decisive action at that. If we need three players in the door before the second qualifying round, we should be doing all we can to make that happen.

Mario Vuskovic is one of several centre-backs linked with Celtic in recent weeks (Photo by Marko Lukunic/Pixsell/MB Media/Getty Images)

Yes, we’ll need centre-forward and winger additions at some stage this summer too. Perhaps even a new left-back to go along with it. But we can’t have everything before Midtjylland and there’s an understanding that that’s the case.

But it doesn’t mean we should be accepting nothing or one signing in the door this summer. Celtic need to be striving to do more than that.

We have 15 days remaining before squad registration day. Make it count Celtic.

In other news, this 22-goal Celtic-linked striker has reportedly chosen his next destination.