Wide players 

This is where Celtic’s transfer window starts to unravel however. The attacking options. On the right, the options are Yang, James Forrest and Marco Tilio — the latter likely off to Rapid Vienna.  Forrest’s goal on the final day last season was a fine moment for a club legend, but his role must now be primarily off the bench. Yang, for all his hard work out of possession, remains too inconsistent with the ball and in his decision making, and there’s little trust from the manager in any of the three to start big European or domestic matches. With Nicolas Kuhn sold to Como for £17m, the need for a top-level right winger is glaring.

On the left, Jota’s injury removes Celtic’s most dangerous wide threat for the foreseeable future. That leaves Daizen Maeda as the sole available option — a hard-working attacker ideally now seen more as a striker than winger, he’ll have to play out wide it seems for now. While he’ll likely start on the left on Sunday, asking him to cover three matches every eight days or so is a recipe for burnout. No other natural left-sided winger exists in the squad, and that is a major failing in squad planning. Even if Nygren is used wide right as a temporary solution, the lack of pace, trickery and consistent end product from the current winger group could be exposed early — especially against deep-sitting defences domestically and high-quality full-backs in Europe.

Continues on the next page…