Celtic are well-stocked in almost every area at the moment at Ange Postecoglou aims to develop his squad ahead of a long, tough, gruelling season. However, there is room for improvement always – and one position that may need a bit of TLC is defensive midfield.
Nir Bitton left over the summer, Ismaila Soro is away on loan, and Liam Shaw has failed to nail a starting spot. Furthermore, James McCarthy has struggled to show the talents that he has been more than comfortable with in the past due to his injury issues – and all of a sudden, Celtic look a bit short in that department.
It was evident against Legia Warsaw as the Polish side broke away from their own area with relative ease, and someone to perhaps plug the gap could be vital.
With only Callum McGregor able to fully manipulate the ball in that area, The Celtic Star looks at three potential stars who could force their way into the lineup…
Ibrahim Amadou
Amadou was a £12million signing for Sevilla from Lille in 2018, and big things were expected if the Cameroon-born star ahead of his move to Andalusia.
For certain reasons, that didn’t work out for the star, with loan spells at Norwich, Leganes and Angers failing to result in permanent moves.
That may put Celtic fans off, especially given Postecoglou’s preference to go for players who are on an upwards trajectory in their careers.
But with a point to prove on the European stage, top-flight European experience since 2015 and an ability to play centre-back, it would be a very astute signing from Celtic’s transfer team.
Daniele Baselli
Baselli has been a mainstay in Serie A since 2013, making 234 appearances in Italy’s top-flight’ though that is set to come to an end after his release from Cagliari at the end of the season.
The Italian is a cultured, tidy midfielder who is combative and knows how to play on the biggest stage.
He has been overlooked in the past couple of seasons, and a fresh start could well be in order for the one-time Italy international.
And at the age of just 30, he has a lot to give for a team in Europe’s most premier competition.
Fredrik Midtsjo
28-year-old Midtsjo has been a star in AZ Alkmaar’s team for the past five seasons, making 191 appearances for the side from the AFAS Stadion.
A box-to-box midfielder at Rosenborg, he has excelled on the Dutch stage and has amassed 60 appearances on the continental stage throughout his career.
However, with just one year left on his contract and with AZ only qualifying for the UEFA Conference League, Mitdsjo’s head could be turned by the promise of Champions League football and a potential title win.
Whether that happens is another question as AZ could look for a fee, but of the three potential candidates he’d without doubt be the most exciting.
We’re fine in Defensive Midfield. I’ve seen a few articles this past week saying we’re short of cover there, but between McGregor, Mooy, Ideguchi & McCarthy, i don’t see it as a problem position; O’Riley could even fill in there if we were down to the bare bones in numbers.
Right Mid, Right Wing, Centre Forward are three positions I’d be hoping we’re looking at bolstering first, with a view to the Champions League.
If we sold McCarthy, or if a player became available too good to pass on, fair enough.
Thing is though we only have one position available for our Champions League squad, and even that’d mean leaving someone like Jullien out, but we have 4 other Centre Backs and he’s not exactly challenging any of them for a place so wouldn’t be a great loss in that respect.
To bring in any other players, they’d likely have to be Scottish reared and take the place of one of the other Scots in our CL team, or if foreign, oust possibly Ideguchi.