Celtic fans were yesterday given some news regarding Chris Jullien and the latest on his injury recovery.
Ange Postecoglou stated that Jullien was still a couple of months away from a return [STV]. The towering Frenchman has already been out for seven months after damaging his knee in a 3-0 win vs Dundee Utd back in December.
Before yesterday, it had been hoped that Jullien would return in August. This was previously reported by the Scottish Sun back in May.
However, instead, he’s going to be out until late September at the earliest. Even then, Jullien won’t have had a pre-season. We could be talking another month before he’s up to speed.
That would leave Celtic with Carl Starfelt, Nir Bitton, Stephen Welsh, and Dane Murray as their four options. Four options for games such as Rangers at Ibrox and European qualifiers.
It’s far too big a risk then to go with what we have. Murray isn’t quite ready whilst Welsh could still do with being an understudy for now. Nir Bitton can’t be relied upon either, leaving us with only Starfelt as a potentially reliable option – and we haven’t even seen him in action yet.
Yes, when Jullien returns there could be an overload of options. But we’re talking about quality over quantity here. What use is it having four centre-backs if we can’t find a capable partnership between them?
Chris Jullien latest paints concerning centre-back picture
Three months is a long time into a new season without a solid partnership. Whilst we have Starfelt in place, we still need another. We don’t even know whether Jullien will come back the same player either after spending so long out of the game.
Yes, right-back, left-wing, and centre-forward remain important positions. You could probably add goalkeeper onto that list too. But let’s not kid ourselves here, we need one more centre-back in if Jullien isn’t back anytime soon.
The fact that Bitton in particular has even been close to contention for the UCL qualifiers is incredible. The fact we’ll go into tonight’s game in Midtjylland with a youthful pairing is sheer laughable.
But there’s still time to sort things out before the season gets underway. A partnership of Starfelt and Bitton, or Starfelt and Welsh doesn’t fill you with excitement. Another new name alongside the big Swede certainly would.
You also have to take into account the summer losses we’ve endured. Ajer has left for Brentford whilst Shane Duffy went back to Brighton. That’s two centre-back options departed whilst only one has been replaced.
There’s still some work to be done in the centre-back position before we can say we’re ready for the campaign ahead.
In other news, Hearts wanted 9,920 fans in for Celtic opener
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