Journalist David Friel has a very good point about Celtic's potential recruitment in the fast-approaching January transfer window.
The Bhoys are in need of a holding midfielder this winter having failed to sign a replacement for Arne Engels during the summer window. Engels was Celtic's most talented player, but the Hoops decided to go at the Champions League qualifiers without a replacement, and when they crashed out, they figured there was no longer a need to find a replacement.
More often than not in the Europa League, that poor decision-making has been exposed, with Celtic's biggest issues coming in the field, and those issues have also shown up against better teams domestically.
Mika Baur has been excellent but is not a holding midfielder, while Callum McGregor is a holding midfielder but no longer has the speed to quickly close down second balls that break from the defence.
Another veteran, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, is the only real alternative, with Oliver Sorensen having struggled there, while Joel van der Berg is a box-to-box midfielder, but has struggled with injury and is only 19 years of age.
The belief is that Celtic will sign a holding midfielder in the January transfer window, with Torino's Gvidas Gineitis continuing to be linked after he came close to a move to Glasgow back in the summer.
But there are no guarantees Celtic will go to the market, and Friel has pointed that out.
He said on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard: “Martin O’Neill clearly isn’t going to be the Celtic manager next year, so is Celtic going to go and sanction big money on a midfielder to really, really evolve that area of the pitch when you’re going to have another manager coming in in the summer? I’m not so sure.”
There is another factor to that, too. It's also worth remembering that there are no guarantees that Celtic will remain in Europe come January. They have given themselves a chance of progressing with a win over Besiktas, but they still need six or seven points from their remaining four games.
Given their struggles in Europe, there are certainly no guarantees, and if Celtic do not progress, there may well be a lack of motivation from the board to sanction a significant midfield signing.
From their point of view, they may feel they have enough to win the league title, which may well be true, and paired with the managerial factor Friel brings up, the board may opt to wait until the summer to commission any significant investment.
If Celtic progress in Europe, they will almost certainly have to recruit in midfield if they have any serious intentions of progressing further.
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