It would be safe to say that the situation is not far from ideal but at least Celtic have managed to sign a striker. The club failed to do that before the end of the summer transfer window after Ajax made a late swoop for Kasper Dolberg and the Danish international turned down the Parkhead move. Then their late loan approach for Chelsea's David Datro Fofana was rejected as well.
The window closed and all Celtic could do was bring in a free agent. They did that, reuniting Kelechi Iheanacho with Brendan Rodgers. The two worked together at Leicester City.
Iheanacho played the best football of his career under the management of Rodgers. That is what Celtic fans are hoping the two will be able to recreate at Parkhead.
The club have made the sensible choice, handing Iheanacho a one-year deal, with the option for an extension. A few years back, James McCarthy was handed a four-year contract, which turned out to be a mistake. It is good to see that the Hoops have learned from that one. Now, could they go out and sign another free agent striker?
Celtic tipped to sign second striker after Kelechi Iheanacho
Heading into deadline day, all the talk was about Celtic trying to sign two strikers. As a report from Glasgow World goes on to read:
"Rodgers was asked directly ahead of the Rangers game last week that if Idah were to go, would he be looking for two strikers. He simply replied “ideally, yeah,” before drawing a wry smile and moving on to another question near the end of his presser.
So that leaves the door open for Bamford to make the switch to Glasgow to fulfil Rodgers’ demand, after a lamented summer window at Parkhead. "
Like Iheanacho, Bamford also finds himself as a free agent at this point in time, having brought an end to his seven-year run at Leeds United. Could he be a good signing for Celtic?
On surface level, it is hard to imagine that things would work out for Bamford at Celtic at this point in his career. He has dealt with injury problems and did not score a single goal last season.
Yes, in the past we have seen him succeed at the Premier League level. But that was a long time back. Is he still capable of replicating that form? Most probably not. But at least it would give Celtic another option up top.