It’s starting to look as though Celtic aren’t too interested in recruiting a centre-back this month.
Heading into the transfer window, several key areas for improvement were brought up. Right-back and the centre-forward positions were the most obvious. The other, however, was centre-back.
After all, question marks remained over the future of Dedryck Boyata. Both he and Filip Benkovic will also definitely be leaving the club in the summer anyway, so improvement in that area would’ve been ideal.
But the latest is that Celtic have rejected the idea of moving for Scott McKenna. According to the Daily Record, the Hoops aren’t bothered about moving for the Scot in this window.
Whilst not getting the Aberdeen man is hardly a blow, it’s extremely interesting. This was a player highly-wanted by Brendan Rodgers in the summer. If Celtic were still in the market for a centre-back, they would be banging down Aberdeen’s door with a bid.
Added to that, another interesting development occurred during the week.
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Jim White spoke on TalkSPORT about a “transfer meeting” that took place to discuss targets. The players on the agenda were Omar Elabdellaoui and James McCarthy.
Nothing was mentioned regarding a centre-back. That’s a concern as we’re now into the final two weeks of the transfer window. If Rodgers wanted another centre-back, surely he would’ve brought it up at the meeting?
This all interestingly comes after Dedryck Boyata was confirmed to be staying beyond January. Almost as if the club now don’t believe they need a centre-back due to the delayed departure of the Belgian.
The issue is that this will leave Celtic in a hellish position in the summer. With Boyata and Benkovic out the door, only Kristoffer Ajer, Jozo Simunovic, and Jack Hendry will be on the books at centre-back. None of the three of them are good enough at this moment in time.
That’s why it would’ve been wise to move in this window. Huge Champions League qualifiers will occur in the summer. Celtic can’t afford to have Hendry playing in those again.
But, for now, it looks as though the club are shelving interest in a new centre-back.