Celtic's summer signing Mika Baur has been speaking about his move from Paderborn over the summer. The midfielder arrived on a deal worth around £4.3million, and he has largely done well, although it's true that Martin O'Neill hasn't quite found the right system for him.
Baur has been excellent on the ball, always wanting to get hold of it, and that hasn't been true of every Celtic player over the last few weeks, which have been difficult. The Bhoys have lost three straight games, including two Old Firm fixtures, and it must be said that the midfield is a key source of the team's problems.
But Baur, who is about to make his senior Germany debut, is ready to get to work. He told reporters:
“Until I got the call, it seemed very far away to me. I knew that moving to Glasgow was the next step, but I didn’t expect it to be such a big step.”
He added that he is ready to stuck in “doing the dirty work, fighting and leaving my heart on the pitch. Sprinting up and down, getting stuck into challenges."
Baur continued: “I’m now at a very high level in that regard, meaning I can have an impact both with and without the ball."
Celtic are sorely missing Arne Engels, but Baur was not bought to replace him, nor can he. He is a different player. Baur is not a holding midfielder, but Celtic do need one to play alongside Callum McGregor, who cannot operate in a single pivot.
The question then becomes; where does Baur play? Benjamin Nygren plays in the attacking midfield role, and that's the only other midfield spot in Martin O'Neill's preferred system. Although if O'Neill wants more midfield protection, he may be smart to try to play a double pivot with Baur in front, but as an out-and-out midfielder rather than an attacking one.
The problem with that is that Nygren is one of the club's best attacking players, and O'Neill then needs to find a way to get the Sweden international in the game.
Those issues only speak to how poorly this Celtic squad was put together, but as things stand, it feels as though the midfield issue is massively restricting this team, and O'Neill needs to find the answer to that before anything else.
Baur will have a part to play, but where the German midfielder fits into that remains to be seen. For now, we wish him luck in his Germany debut.
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