The best Celtic teams have always had an aura about them and opposing sides are beaten before they step onto the pitch, so it really is important that they get the recruitment right this summer.
You can see a lot of teams this season are taking to the pitch with a belief that they will take something from the game, and that starts with the leaky defence.
It’s something that simply has to be fixed in the summer market, and former striker Frank McAvennie has made some interesting points about the suggested interest in Motherwell defender Declan Gallagher: (Quotes from Football Insider)
“No, no, no, not for me. Has he played well this season? Listen, he is in the Scotland team so he is a decent player but I want a defender who wants to defend first and foremost.
“Celtic need players who will not just win them the league, but will take them far in Europe. They need to sign players that will take them to the next level.
“Gallagher and Welsh? That would not frighten me if I was a centre-forward. They need to sign an out-and-out centre-half, we need someone who loves defending, big time.
“I want somebody like Bobo Balde, he just went in and won the ball. That is what he was all about. No disrespect to the boy Gallagher but he is not that kind of player.”
Obviously it’s unlikely that Welsh and Gallagher would be the starting pairing for next season, but if you imagine it from the point of view of other teams in the division then it is worrying.
Welsh is still young and developing so they’ll see him as someone they can get after, while Motherwell have been pretty turgid this season and Gallagher has been a major part of that side so they already know they can get the better of him.
It remains to be seen if there’s a Bobo Balde figure out there that can be signed, but we really do need to see some kind of physicality and quality come into the defence next year.