Coming into the winter transfer window, it was clear that Celtic badly needed to improve their options up top. While a satisfactory number of signings have not been made yet, bringing in Tomas Cvancara on loan from Borussia Monchengladbach has at least given Martin O'Neill another different option to pick from.
Johnny Kenny's finishing is not up to the grade when it comes to being the leading striker of Celtic. Will Cvancara prove to be good enough to fill the void at Parkhead? Time shall tell.
Cvancara was expected to make his debut against Hearts, and he was handed a start by O'Neill, just days after arriving from Borussia Monchengladbach. He lasted 66 minutes before being subbed off for Sebastian Tounekti.
O'Neill seemed to be impressed with Cvancara's movement against Hearts. But at the same time, the Hoops have been handed a fitness worry regarding the Czech Republic international striker. As reported by 67 Hail Hail, the Celtic manager said after the game:
"I thought his run for the goals was fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. So, he’ll do fine for us during the course of time when he gets to know about all he’s had is a couple of training sessions with his teammates.
“But yeah, he’s got really good pace. Did well, has good control, and I was really pleased with him.
“He was holding his hamstring. I was worried about that, and that’s why we replaced him."
'Holding his hamstring' - Celtic already handed Tomas Cvancara injury worry
Now, it remains to be seen how serious the situation is when it comes to Cvancara's hamstring issue. Is it something that will keep him out on the sidelines for a while? If so, then Celtic's luck could not be worse.
It would mean that they will lose the striker signed to fill the void up top after just 66 minutes of action. Then again, considering how things have turned out for the club in recent months, it would not feel out of place.
Let's see how things play out from here. One can only hope that it was only a precautionary change and that Cvancara is back available in the very next game, which is FC Utrecht in the Europa League, the last one of the group phase with Celtic sitting at 24th in the table. The Hoops could do with a few goals from their starting striker on that night.