Alistair Johnston suffered an injury in the first leg against Kairat and is expected to remain out for about 12 weeks. That is a problem for Celtic. The Canadian international was a nailed-on starter for them at right-back. Of course, they have Anthony Ralston as well but he clearly does not bring as much to the table.
There have been suggestions that Celtic could look for solutions internally. That being said, the possibility of them trying to sign another right-back cannot be ruled out either.
In fact, it looks like they have a right-back from Galatasaray in their sights. And if reports are accurate then they have already made an offer for him as well.
As reported by Metin, Celtic have sent a written document to Galatasaray for Elias Jelert. It is for a €1.25m loan fee plus €8.5m purchase option.
Celtic reportedly make €9.75m offer for Galatasaray right-back
It remains to be seen how accurate the rumour is. And if it is, then will Galatasaray be willing to accept Celtic's offer? There are a lot of ifs and buts at play as things stand.
Let's just assume that a deal ends up getting agreed, Jelert impresses on loan and is eventually signed by Celtic on a permanent basis. In that scenario, they would be spending about €9.75 million to bring the right-back to Parkhead in total.
That is a significant figure and one would imagine that Celtic would not be willing to make that sort of an outlay if they were not convinced that Jelert could be a starter for the club. So, one has to wonder if this is a sign that the club are already preparing for the eventual departure of Johnston.
For now, that is thinking a bit too far ahead though. Let's see where things go when it comes to this Jelert rumour.