Cameron Carter-Vickers is the glue of Celtic’s defensive line.
Without him, you notice a clear drop in quality, bite and leadership, with Celtic’s back-up options not being able to cement a regular place for themselves in Brendan Rodgers’ starting XI.
The issue for the Celtic manager now is that interest is emerging for Carter-Vickers’ talents, including from newly-promoted English Premier League sides Sunderland and Leeds United.
The 2025 summer transfer window opened on June 16, and those in green and white colours are expected to be as busy as ever.
Whilst the Celtic Park faithful are hoping for new signings to come in, such as the return of Kieran Tierney, they will be hoping key players don’t leave, including a man of Carter-Vickers’ calibre.
Sunderland fans share their honest thoughts on transfer links to Celtic’s Cameron Carter-Vickers
For the past two seasons, the newly-promoted teams in England have gone straight back down, so this makes life much harder for Sunderland and their return to the big time.
The Black Cats earned promotion via the play-offs, and their supporters aren’t too keen on someone like Carter-Vickers coming in and trying to maintain their status with the elite.
The USMNT international has had experience of playing in England, after he came through at Tottenham, before joining Celtic.
But this was the Sunderland supporters’ interesting reaction on social media to those CCV links:
This Sunderland fan, @Daviddbrownn22, was pretty clear: ‘No.’
@BolamDillan feels Sunderland can ‘do better’ than Carter-Vickers: ‘Not against it personally, still feel we could do better.’
And the theme continued, as @indigo_______1 added: ‘No.’
@sean8370 noted how CCV has performed in Europe, and for the USA: ‘He struggled with the speed of play when in the Champions League and for the USA for a long time. He has been left in the cold for the USA since. Hopefully, we get better than him.’
@mickynapier with another no: ‘Nah, not for me.’
@Ross1million86 with a two-word response: ‘He’s poor.’
@G11FTM with a brutal take: ‘I’m faster than him and I’m 49!’
Someone who appreciates CCV as a player, as @RyanEvans29 added: ‘Would love this signing. Only issue is fitness. CCV has missed sometime but when fit he is really good. To have 2 guys that have injury issues in CCV and Dan Ballard would be a risk. He is happy at Celtic & just signed a new deal.’
@Anthony89996734 also added: ‘Both struggle to afford the big man.’
Carter-Vickers’ stats in the Champions League for Celtic
At the age of 27, Carter-Vickers is at the peak of his powers, and he has experienced a lot in his career, including playing for eight different clubs.
But he is being questioned for his qualities on the bigger stage, such as the Premier League, and in Europe, so how has he fared?
| Competition | Games | Clean Sheets |
|---|---|---|
| Champions League | 15 | 2 |
Carter-Vickers has never played in the Premier League, so that would be a worry for Celtic fans because he might want to get a taste of it.
But it needs to be noted, whilst CCV’s clean sheet to game ratio doesn’t make for good viewing in Europe, at the end of the day, there is a world of difference in finances between Celtic and the majority of teams they face in the Champions League.
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