Ange Postecoglou has provided a superb update on Celtic signing Carl Starfelt, as he’s stated that the centre-back will likely be in contention to face Hearts on Saturday.
Celtic secured the signing of the Swedish international last week. However, due to quarantine rules he was unable to feature in Saturday’s friendly against West Ham United.
Much was made of the inexperience of the Celtic backline against the Hammers at the weekend. The Hoops will be forced to go with Dane Murray and Stephen Welsh against Midtjylland tomorrow evening too.
But that partnership doesn’t look like being on the cards for Tynecastle on Saturday. Instead, Starfelt will be available as he prepares to come out of his quarantine period.
Speaking at his pre-Midtjylland press conference via Celtic TV, Postecoglou said: “With Carl, my understanding is that he’s started some individual training. We hope he joins us at Lennoxtown by the time we get back into Scotland.
“We’ll see what his condition is like then, but he should be available by the weekend.”
Carl Starfelt could make his Celtic debut against Hearts
There is no guarantee that Starfelt will actually start against the Jambos of course. In an ideal world, he would be given time to get used to his teammates and integrate with them for a period before being flung into action.
But this isn’t an ideal world. Far from it. Celtic are absolutely all over the place at the back when it comes to the centre-back positions. Christopher Jullien is still sidelined whilst Nir Bitton can’t be deemed reliable at the moment.
We’re going into a mammoth UEFA Champions League qualifier with two young and inexperienced centre-backs. Dane Murray and Stephen Welsh isn’t the sort of partnership you want playing at Tynecastle.
Sure, Postecoglou has the option of throwing Bitton back into the mix, but is that really something he wants to do? Given how let down he was by the Israeli last week?
Starfelt should be fit and ready to feature on Saturday. He was part of Rubin Kazan’s pre-season and would’ve been training to be fit for their opening game against Spartak Moscow three days ago.
The big Swede, if mentally prepared, should be itching to get out. Having a stormer in a debut against Hearts at Tynecastle would give his Celtic career a superb kickstart. Let’s hope he’s up for the challenge.
In other news: Ghanaian Report: Celtic express interest in Slovakia-based right-back Benson Anang
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