Celtic were very active this summer when it came to the centre-back position. Carl Starfelt departed the club in order to join Celta Vigo, freeing up a spot in the starting XI as a result. On the other hand, the Hoops signed three new centre-backs this summer in the form of Maik Nawrocki, Gustaf Lagerbielke and Nat Phillips, who is on loan from Liverpool.
Of course, of a lot of that was down to a number of their centre-backs being injured. Cameron Carter-Vickers, Stephen Welsh and Nawrocki are all on the sidelines right now.
Interestingly, it looks like the club missed out on another centre-back, who currently plays in La Liga for Sevilla. That is none other than 21-year-old Kike Salas. There appears to have been a lot of interest in his signature but he has stayed put at the Spanish club.
As reported by the Daily Record, Sevilla sporting director Victor Orta said:
"“We have many young players who will be very good, but we have to be patient about their development. Kike Salas is a great example of a kid who has come through our youth system and many teams wanted him on loan.“I had practically every team in the second division asking for him and he also had the chance to go to top foreign teams like Celtic and Red Bull Salzburg, but didn’t. So he is very valued and we need to show more faith in these players. We can’t be talking about home-grown talent and, when the home-grown talent plays, always questioning them.”"
Sevilla centre-back rejected chance to sign for Celtic
It remains to be seen how things play out for Salas at Sevilla this season. The club do not find themselves in a good position right now. They are at the bottom of the La Liga table as things stand, after having lost all three of their league games till now. Let’s see if the situation changes.
Interestingly, Sergio Ramos looks set to make a return to Sevilla this summer. And let’s see what kind of an impact that has on the playing time that Salas receives over the course of the campaign.
On the other hand, Celtic will be happy after having kept a clean sheet against the Rangers at the weekend. Not many would have been expecting it. And one of the standouts on the day was Liam Scales, who put in a Man of the Match performance at centre-back.