Neil Lennon has provided some exciting news regarding Celtic signings over the next week.
Speaking in the Daily Record, Lenny has claimed that he would love to have a player in for before Saturday’s contest with St Johnstone. But he has stated, at the very latest, that he wants one or two in before next week.
Celtic open up their Premiership campaign against Saints on Saturday with four new signings in the door this summer. Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo, Christopher Jullien, Luca Connell, and Hatem Abd Elhamed have all joined up. Yet still Celtic need cover at right-back, centre-back, and potentially another midfielder.
And speaking in the Record, Lenny touched on his potential timeline for new signings. He also claimed that we’ve had a slight set-back in our search for defensive cover.
“We will discuss that when we get back on Wednesday, it would be great if we could (bring one in before Saturday). And we will try and get one or two in before the next tie if we qualify, which we should do, for next week.
“That has stalled, so we may have to look elsewhere (defensive cover).”
New Celtic signings for Saturday shouldn’t be essential
When you weigh everything up, there’s no overwhelming need for a new signing before Saturday. It would be ideal if we could get one in as early as possible, but it doesn’t seem too necessary.
Celtic shouldn’t need any further back-up to give St Johnstone a going over. Saints have already failed to qualify from their Betfred Cup group, with Forfar Athletic going through ahead of them. They’ve lost to the likes of Forfar and Montrose in recent weeks, and have won just two of their six matches both friendly and competitive.
There are potential concerns over the defence. With Christopher Jullien and Jozo Simunovic suspended, it looks as though we could have to go with Nir Bitton and Kristoffer Ajer at the back. But is that really such a concern at home to St Johnstone?
Getting one or two in before we face either Cluj or Maccabi Tel-Aviv is of greater importance. Celtic could do with that defensive cover for right-back in case Elhamed picks up a knock.
Lenny wouldn’t go into details about who we could expect through the Parkhead door. He never does. But he comes across as confident that something will be done over the next seven days or so.
That appears to be the timeline, and if we’re sitting here one week from now with no new additions, Lenny surely won’t be a happy man.
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