The right-back position should now be Celtic’s top priority

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So it’s now official, we have no competition available for the right-back position.

Mikael Lustig’s departure has seen an incredibly odd exodus of right-backs this summer. He joins Jeremy Toljan and Cristian Gamboa in leaving the club. That now leaves Celtic with only Anthony Ralston available to take up the spot.

It would hardly be surprising to hear the club hit out with the idea that Nir Bitton could possibly play right-back. That certainly seems to be our go-to when we’re struggling at centre-back anyway.

But in all seriousness, Celtic’s top priority in this transfer window has now changed. Or, at the very least, it most certainly should.

Ralston, for all of the promise he has as a footballer, is still nowhere near first-team quality at Parkhead. A loan move would likely be best for him at this stage of his career. But the fact we now have no right-back could halt any plans for that if Celtic have any.

Celtic’s Champions League qualifying campaign starts in three weeks’ time. The registration date to have the squad submitted to UEFA this year is July 4th. That’s been confirmed in UEFA’s new Champions League regulations handbook (page 42).

So that means we, therefore, have a total of two weeks for a new right-back to come in for the Champions League qualifier against Sarajevo. That’s not exactly plenty of time. Celtic simply need to try and get their top targets for that position in as soon as they can.

Why we can’t just go with Ralston

Some will feel that going with Ralston against Sarajevo is hardly a disaster. After all, the registration date for the second qualifying round isn’t until July 18th. Surely Celtic could wait until then, right? Well, why take that risk?

Nobody is expecting Neil Lennon to have wrapped up his transfer business by the time Sarajevo comes around. That’s never the case considering how early these qualifiers now hit clubs like Celtic.

But right-back now has a flashing red emergency light on it. What if Ralston, for example, were to pick up an injury in pre-season training? That could seriously change whatever plans Lennon has for his defence in the first qualifying round. We shouldn’t be in that position.

There’s time for Celtic to retrieve the situation, and we can only assume that the club are doing their best to get the right man in before Sarajevo.

But for now, all talk of a David Turnbull replacement or even a new centre-back has to be on the backburner. Jozo Simunovic and Kristoffer Ajer can certainly hold the fort for now. But a Lustig replacement is now an absolute necessity for the club.