Centre-back is a real area of uncertainty at the moment for Celtic. Kristoffer Ajer is having bids rejected for him with every passing day, Carl Starfelt talks seem to have cooled off due to a valuation disagreement with Rubin Kazan, and therefore Celtic have failed to fill the void left by Shane Duffy following his move back to Brighton after his (admittedly) poor loan spell came to an end.
Yet, a name that Celtic have been linked with regularly at the moment is out-of-favour Tottenham defender Cameron Carter-Vickers. The English-born American international, who grew up in the youth academy at Spurs from the age of twelve, has yet to feature in a league fixture for Spurs – amassing just four appearances split across the two domestic cups.
Despite this, Carter-Vickers has been loaned out to the Championship for the past four seasons; travelling far and wide in loan spells to Sheffield United, Ipswich, Swansea, Stoke, Luton and Bournemouth – excelling everywhere he has travelled, resulting in links to Newcastle and Celtic.
Perhaps it is this mark of consistency that has allegedly perked Ange Postecoglou’s interest in the defender. Admittedly, it is tough to break into Spurs’ first-team; they are after all a huge club in the richest league in the world, where money is no object and youth players are tossed onto the scrapheap.
However, Football Insider pundit Noel Whelan suggests he is the real deal – and that the Hoops’ should look to close a deal as soon as possible.
“He has everything. He’s powerful, quick, aggressive and that’s what you need, that competition.He’s someone that’s going to dominate centre forwards and someone who’s going to be a leader out there as well. I don’t think there were too many at the back.”
“Look at the array of talent they have going forward and in midfield when everyone’s fit. That is a strong forward line. It’s the backline that really struggled, collectively defending as a team.”
