It was fairly obvious that Celtic needed to strengthen their defence this summer no matter what, but that hunt should’ve been hurried up by the performance at Kilmarnock.
Jullien and Ajer both struggled with a striker who only had work rate and physicality to rely on, but Nicke Kabamba ran them ragged.
That suggests bringing in a player who has the physicality to dominate at the back could be useful in certain situations, while the added competition for places wouldn’t be a bad thing either.
Brighton defender Shane Duffy has emerged as a target in recent days, and today’s report from The Herald is encouraging from a Celtic point of view.
They quote The Daily Mail in suggesting that Duffy says his preferred choice would be to move to Celtic, despite interest from a few Premier League clubs.
The problem for Celtic would be that this could only be a loan deal for now, and Brighton are said to be demanding a £2m fee to make that happen.
It’s not clear if there would be an option to buy included in the deal so it would make more sense if Celtic had plans to sign him on a long term basis, as it gives them a season to sort their finances to raise the funds.
The 28 year old is vastly experienced at club and international level so he should be a welcome addition to the back line, especially if he can bring an aggression and physicality that’s missing in the team just now.
