Celtic should make a cheeky attempt to lure Liverpool talent Harvey Elliott to the club in January, but there are some red flags.
The Bhoys are likely to strengthen in the January window, although the degree to which they do will likely depend on whether they are still in the Europa League, with their current hopes hanging by a thread.
It would be a surprise if they don't sign a holding midfielder, with everyone at the club seemingly aware that not signing one in the summer was the biggest mistake made in a summer of recruitment mistakes.
Other than that, and the likely need more senior left-back cover, Celtic could do with competition for Benjamin Nygren in the attacking midfield role. At present, there really is no attacking midfielder pushing Nygren for starts.
Martin O'Neill has played others there, mostly off the bench, but it generally means a change of shape. It would certainly be interesting to see Callum Osmand get a crack at the position, given how creative he has been of late, but another option is to make a signing.
The way to keep that cheap is by signing a loan player, and Liverpool's Harvey Elliott could become available. Elliott is currently on loan at Valencia, but things are not going great.
He has played six times in LaLiga but has not started, and he recently got sent off minutes after coming off the bench, earning two yellow cards in the space of around 20 seconds for back-chatting the referee.
That has added fuel to the fire after claims he had to be put on a special training regime to reduce his weight following his arrival, and there is now talk in Spain that Valencia will consider sending him back in January. There have also been reports that he has not been as professional as Los Ché would have liked.
So make no mistake, there are some red flags. Although in his defence, he went a year barely playing due to Aston Villa keeping him sidelined during a loan spell last season just to avoid triggering a mandatory purchase clause. The weight issue could certainly play into that.
But the two-time Premier League winner has certainly showed himself to be an attacking threat in the past at Liverpool, and there could be an opportunity to get him on loan. The Reds are likely to want to see him play regularly wherever he goes next, and the Bhoys can offer that, be it in the number 10 or out wide, provided he earns it.
Martin O'Neill may be lacking in some areas, but he is an excellent man-manager, and you would back him to get Elliott back on track in a heartbeat, giving him confidence and keeping him on the straight and narrow.
It would be low-cost and potentially high reward. The Elliott of a couple of years ago would light up the Scottish Premiership, and Parkhead could be where he gets his career back on track.
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