Carl Starfelt to Celtic has been held up from being completed due to the player’s work visa and the Covid travel restrictions, according to the Daily Record.
The report states that the Hoops have agreed a long-term deal with the Rubin Kazan centre-back. Starfelt has also passed his medical in Moscow, which took place last week.
The Record says that Celtic will spend as much as £4.5million on Starfelt. The report believes he’s considered as a direct replacement for Kris Ajer.
However, Starfelt is now waiting for his work visa to come through. As well as that, he’s still waiting to see when he can travel to the UK amid the Covid restrictions.
Celtic clearly won’t have Starfelt available for tomorrow night’s UCL second qualifying round against FC Midtjylland.
Carl Starfelt may be a success at Celtic, but we needed him for Europe
It’s massively disappointing that Starfelt clearly won’t be ready for the UCL tie. Considering the player hasn’t even been announced yet, there’s no chance he’s featuring.
It remains to be seen if he can even be registered for next week’s second leg either. But for Celtic fans it’s a massive frustration.
With Ajer clearly unlikely to feature, we have a big problem at centre-back. All of a sudden, Nir Bitton looks to be partnering Stephen Welsh. One isn’t a natural centre-back whilst the other doesn’t yet have the quality to be featuring at this level.
Granted, Bitton can at times surprise with his efficiency and calmness at centre-back. But he’s just as liable to make a mistake. Celtic’s main goal this summer should’ve been filling that area with quality given the losses we suffered there.
Sure, Starfelt may be on his way. And yes, when he arrives there will be great delight amongst the support. But this should’ve been done long before now.
Hopefully the centre-back makes a big difference and can make an immediate impact. But for now, we have major shortages in the position heading into a crucial UCL qualifier.
In other news: CHRIS Sutton backing Olivier Ntcham to revive his Celtic career in 2021/22
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