What is Celtic's biggest area of need in the upcoming January transfer window? Most fans would say that is a striker. The club never really replaced Kyogo when he left for Rennes in January. And then, they sanctioned the departure of Adam Idah without bringing in a replacement first, then failed in their pursuit of Kasper Dolberg.
Ultimately, Celtic did sign Kelechi Iheanacho as a free agent after the summer transfer window had closed. But the Nigerian has proven to be injury-prone and is not someone who can be relied upon to be the man leading the line.
On the other hand, Celtic do not have anybody else capable of even doing a half-decent job. Johnny Kenny had scored a few goals during Martin O'Neill's run but his finishing has been terrible since Wifried Nancy was brought in. Callum Osmand showed a lot of promise before getting injured. And Shin Yamada has barely been involved since his summer move.
So, Celtic need a striker. Nancy was recently asked about Cucho Hernandez’ importance to his Columbus Crew team. As reported by 67 Hail Hail, he said:
"I think that if you ask the question to all coaches, they’re going to say the striker is important.
“Obviously, yes, we are all the same as a coach. But at the same time, what I like with my team and with all the teams that I coach, and for the moment it’s not so bad, we can score from any position.
“This is what has happened since I’m here.
“Now, yes, you mentioned Cucho Hernandez. He did score many goals, but we scored many goals with other players.
“For me, this is important. Obviously, like I said, as a coach, yes, we want all the positions in our team. But again, we’re going to work on that and we’ll see."
Cucho Hernandez brought up amid Celtic striker search
Hernandez was phenomenal during his time with Columbus Crew. Since then, he has gone on to join Real Betis and is putting up some pretty solid numbers for the Spanish club as well.
Many would suggest Hernandez as a possible option for the Hoops. That being said, it is going to be very difficult to bring in someone who is actually scoring goals on a consistent basis for a top La Liga side like Real Betis.
It does show though that strikers are capable of thriving in Nancy's style of football. What Celtic need to do is bring in someone capable of scoring goals on a consistent basis.