This has been an extremely busy week for Celtic in the transfer market.
The Hoops needed new bodies and Ange Postecoglou has achieved that by welcoming Joe Hart and James McCarthy to Parkhead.
On the chalkboard
Those two additions are incredibly important to Celtic with problems emerging in both areas.
Ismaila Soro has endured a poor start to the season so McCarthy now stands a brilliant chance of becoming the club’s heir to Scott Brown in the middle of the park.
As for the goalkeeping position, both Scott Bain and Vasilis Barkas have already made mistakes in the opening three competitive matches of the new campaign.
In fact, defensive errors as a whole have been rife as the Bhoys pick up the mantle from how they closed out the 2020/21 term.
Nir Bitton was sent off in the Champions League and then put in a torturous performance against Hearts last weekend. That said, debutant Carl Starfelt didn’t escape the negative headlines either.
A lack of match action may attribute to his poor performance, but there was no excuse for playing a dangerous back pass in the second half that nearly had shades of Jonjoe Kenny in his first Old Firm game last season.
Defenders needed
With such a disastrous start to the campaign from a defensive point of view in mind, Postecoglou desperately needs to sign Hart’s ex-teammate Cameron Carter-Vickers.
Reports in June claimed that Celtic were interested in signing the Tottenham defender.
Talks got underway and now according to the Record, the Hoops have ramped up their plans to sign the centre-back.
That being said, with 12 months remaining on his deal in north London, Celtic will need to stump up a £5m fee rather than signing him on loan.
If Postecoglou does bring him to Paradise then it would be an excellent piece of business, even at the asking price touted.
Dubbed “incredible” by his manager Graeme Jones during a loan spell with Luton, the United States international has qualities that would suit the coaching department in Glasgow.
First and foremost, his ability to play out from the back will be vitally important. Carter-Vickers completed 91.6% of his passes in the English second tier during a stay with Swansea, the best tally of any player in the entire division.
With that kind of passing in mind, he could form quite the partnership with Carl Starfelt, another composed ball-playing defender.
Furthermore, Carter-Vickers prevailed in 2.8 aerial battles per game last season, a number that was slightly down from the 3.8 he won with Luton Town in 2019/20.
It’s evident that he’d be a fantastic addition to the Celtic ranks; Postecoglou must make him the club’s latest signing.