Insiders claim £3 million Celtic signing is not good enough

There’s still a fair amount of concern from Celtic fans over the club’s summer signings. Although Luis Palma and Yang Hyun-jun are now beginning to show real potential in their performances, many others have yet to do so. And it looks like one signing in particular might not be matching the required standards.

Injuries to Cameron Carter-Vickers and Stephen Welsh along with the departure of Carl Starfelt left the Hoops short of centre-backs at the start of the season. That led to the signing of Gustaf Lagerbielke and Maik Nawrocki and the half-season loan arrival of Nat Phillips from Liverpool.

That, along with the unexpected rise of Liam Scales has provided cover in depth in the heart of defence. Phillips is only on loan until January. And he hasn’t particularly impressed the fans with his displays so far and can be expected to leave when the short-term deal expires.

Welsh would be the last of the centre-backs to return from injury and is expected to be available again next month. All of which increases the completion for places in the squad at centre-back.

Insiders claim £3 million Celtic signing is not good enough

The competition means that the players will have to perform well when selected and make a strong showing in training when not playing. Carter-Vickers and Scales seem the settled starting duo at centre-back right now.

On the other hand, as reported by TBR Football, Mark Guidi said on The Go Radio Football Show:

"“I think you can look at guys like Bernabei, Kobayashi, perhaps Mikey Johnson when he’s out of contract this summer maybe he would go.“James McCarthy has not featured at all this season and I think if Stephen Welsh comes back and Nawrocki comes back, I think that Lagerbielke, from what I’m told from inside, is not hitting the standards required.“So he’s got a bit of work to do to go and turn that around and to show that he is worthy of being in the Celtic first-team squad.”"

Lagerbielke was put in a rather difficult situation when he arrived, going straight into the starting lineup in a makeshift partnership with Scales. Despite a tough early ride at Ibrox and his red card at Feyenoord, he was showing signs of settling in reasonably well. He also recently made his second appearance for the Sweden national team and marked it with a goal in a friendly win over Moldova.

The way in which the club deal with the squad size will be interesting. It seems there will be a need to make some tough decisions. That being said, it is way too early to make a judgement on Lagerbielke and given how quickly injuries can affect a squad, it would seem more likely that he will get some chances as the season progresses further.