With the club still in the market for a defender, Celtic ending their interest in Scott McKenna is great news.
Not because the youngster is a poor defender. He has bags of potential and already has four Scotland caps to his name.
However, McKenna simply isn’t ready for the step-up at Celtic. Meanwhile, the club desperately need a centre-back t come in and do a job immediately. This man wasn’t McKenna.
Not least of all because the 21-year-old is suffering from a hamstring injury in the first place.
The Hoops have a must-win Europa League tie against Suduva of Lithuania over the next week. Added to that, they have must-win Premiership games coming up against Hamilton and Rangers. Anything less than four wins from these games will see the pressure mount on the club and Brendan Rodgers.
Therefore, this isn’t the kind of environment to be bedding in a youngster like McKenna. The centre-back has made 33 appearances for the Dons, and has had loan spells at Ayr United and Alloa Athletic.
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With Aberdeen refusing to sell for any less than £10m in this window, Celtic are right to walk away.
This doesn’t mean the club can get away with not going for a defender. The Hoops still could do with one or two new faces coming in before Rangers come calling. Celtic fans may feel the defence as it is can cope with their Glasgow rivals. However, why take the risk with how clinical they look at the moment?
Dedryck Boyata has once again refused to play, this time away to Suduva. The Belgian defender claims it’s an injury that’s keeping him out, but he did train with the squad during the week.
Jack Hendry is another struggling with a knock, whilst Marvin Compper also remains injured.
In truth, this leaves Kristoffer Ajer as the only recognised centre-back still fit and available. Going into a campaign with a hectic schedule means Celtic will be short with the current options they have.
McKenna would’ve added depth to the squad, but not particularly quality at this moment in time. Celtic were perhaps doing the right thing by going for him early, but just throwing him in would’ve been dangerous.
Aberdeen’s unwillingness to sell combined with the player’s inexperience meant that this should’ve been a no-go from the start.
Now Celtic have to move on and look for substantial targets or face some painful results in the weeks ahead.