£10 million defender opens door to Celtic return

Celtic recently handed a contract extension to Liam Scales, who has been a regular in the heart of defence for the Hoops this season. The Irishman was near the bottom of the pecking order at the start of the campaign but injuries to other centre-backs allowed him to get into the team, and it would be safe to say that he made the most of the opportunity and has remained a starter since then.

There are many fans who believe that Celtic should sign a centre-back next summer. Firstly, because Cameron Carter-Vickers, the club's best defender, has constantly struggled with injury problems going back to last season.

On the other hand, there are those who feel that Scales is not good enough to be a starter for Celtic. While he did well early on in the season, he has not been nearly as solid in the second half of the campaign.

One also has to wonder whether Celtic made a mistake with how they handled Moritz Jenz's situation last season. The German centre-back was on loan from FC Lorient and the spell was cut short in the middle of the campaign. He would end up at Schalke instead and his career has been on an upward trajectory since then.

£10 million defender opens door to Celtic return

Jenz's loan spell at Schalke proved to be a major success despite the club's struggles. He would eventually end up sealing a permanent to Wolfsburg last summer and it is believed that the transfer fee could rise up to £10 million.

Despite how things ended up at Celtic Park, Jenz seems open to the idea of a return one day. As reported by Football Scotland, he said:

"My wife said to me last time, 'Can you imagine coming back to Celtic one time? Please!'

"I said, 'Why not? It would be very nice.' I would never say no. You never know. Maybe later in my career would be nice. But for now, I'm at a very good and very ambitious club with a very big project also. We'll see what's happening, but so far I'm very happy.

"Last year I played a lot of games, this year I played a lot of games and made my name bigger in Germany, before it was not known! It's a great step and I just want to continue. You never know, the paths in life always cross twice. We'll see, but I would really like to come back and play one day."

Celtic could certainly do with someone like Jenz right now but it looks like he is happy at Wolfsburg. At 25, he should have plenty of football left in the tank.