With Cameron Carter Vickers, Stephen Welsh and Maik Nawrocki all out injured for eight weeks, Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic are left in an extremely difficult position.
At this present time, Liam Scales, new signing Gustaf Lagerbielke and Tomoki Iwata are Celtic’s only available centre half options although fit again right back Alistair Johnston has experience of playing in the centre of defence for Canada.
Speaking at his press conference today, Brendan Rodgers had the following to say whether Celtic would seek experienced reinforcements to bolster the heart of his defence:
“I think especially at centre half it’s a specialised position where for me the experience always helps. We’ve got lots of young players in the squad but naturally to bring those players on and bring them through they need to play with players not just of experience, but players of quality.
“You need to hopefully try and align both because you’ll see the best of those players. You know the guys that are young and developing and dealing with the expectation, they can play alongside the guy that’s going to pull them through and then bring out that potential, ideally that’s what you want.
“So that’s something we’ll look at.”
An experienced centre half is exactly what Celtic will require to get through the next two months without three first team centre halves. However, where injury strikes opportunity arises for someone to come in and impress, Liam Scales and Gustaf Lagerbielke will have that opportunity for the next two months.
Here is Brendan Rodgers speaking to the media today ahead of the match against St Johnstone at Celtic Park on Saturday afternoon.
James French
