Celtic transfer window shouldn’t be this complicated and continuing neglect of one position is unacceptable – Chris Sutton

Greg Taylor is listed as injured. There are six days remaining in the transfer window if a left-back move isn’t completed to fill the void.

It’s not like Brendan Rodgers didn’t know for a while that he required one. He and the hiring team weren’t searching too hard if they weren’t able to find it by last summer. I completely understand the Celtic fans’ displeasure in these situations. I’ll address the quality issue shortly, but it’s not really acceptable to not even be able to get backup in the door.

Securing Cameron Carter-Vickers on a new deal is great news. He’s been the best defender in Scotland for a while, but you can’t get away from the fact there are areas of concern within the team. Everyone thinks Celtic will just roll over Ross County today. They should, but that’s not the point. The point is this is they have left themselves light. Alexandro Bernabei hasn’t been trusted for a while and this was the one position that urgently needed to be sorted out. The fact it’s not yet been done by now beggars belief.

Is it on Rodgers? Is it on Mark Lawwell and his team? Is it on the board? For me, it’s on the recruitment side and the facts are this market seems to be more complicated for Celtic than it ought to be.

Rodgers has spoken about quality and not adding to the squad for the sake of it. That’s fine if you are talking about improvement. But he said himself last week Celtic had to be mindful of a loading issue regarding Taylor and it was about support and back-up.

Are you saying that, under the constraints of the Celtic model, there isn’t a single left-back available who is superior to Bernabei? Give it up. There’s no justification for falling short domestically, but Taylor doesn’t play well defensively in the Champions League, so you need constantly be looking to better every position for that.

I’m not sure how to feel about the quality. Prior to the window opening, Rodgers stated that he desired it, but on January 27, he would only have one in the door. What has transpired throughout the previous six months? Where are the clues to the labor done behind the scenes?

We all understand the model and Celtic were moving in the right Champions League direction last season but they aren’t now and are also now causing themselves unnecessary issues at domestic level. That’s worthy of fans’ concern. Why are the club not on the right side of the signings? What’s changed on that front since Ange Postecoglou left?

The Taylor situation is case in point and, when looking at the likes of signing Gustaf Lagerbielke, Marco Tilio and Nat Phillips, you have to ask what’s gone awry.

Liam Scales can go to left-back but he’s not going to be able to give Celtic the attacking poise Taylor does. He makes passes and runs, gets assists and scores the odd one. Compare the right hand side. I’m not out to get after Alistair Johnston, but I read recently he hasn’t had a single goal and barely an assist this season.

For a Celtic right-back, given the need for the full-backs to get up and produce quality, that’s a poor return.

Taylor offsets it to an extent, but if he’s not available, that’s another option gone and the fact someone isn’t signed and ready to step right in isn’t really acceptable.

Striker was the other key position but, as I’ve said, that’s not an easy sell because you are either asking a quality individual to come and sit on the bench behind Kyogo Furuhashi or splashing enough cash to get someone better. I’d suggest finding a left-back to offer competition to Taylor isn’t a challenge of that scale.

That’s why I get the fans’ frustrations, although looking through the rest of the unit, I’m not sure why some punters are panicking. Joe Hart’s fine. You could get a better back-up but there’s no need for panic and the defence has Carter-Vickers, Scales, Maik Nawrocki and Stephen Welsh. Not all Champions League level but for the rest of this domestic campaign it’s solid enough.

With Callum McGregor, Matt O’Riley, Paulo Bernardo getting comfortable, and Reo Hatate getting fit again, Celtic are loaded in the middle. Regarding O’Riley, Celtic was unable to let him go and accept any offer from Atletico Madrid. That was really absurd. Thus, he remains, and once more, absent extravagant expenditures, who is eliminating McGregor, O’Riley, and Hatate from the team? Bernardo is also demonstrating his ability as a backup.

Interesting are the wings. Theoretically, there are four excellent possibilities for the two positions: Nicolas Kuhn, Liel Abada, Daizen Maeda, and Luis Palma. However, that is merely a theory. Yes, Palma and Maeda, but I won’t be completely sold on Abada until the window closes.

I don’t need to go into the challenges which the lad has been facing in the past few months. Celtic are adamant he’s staying and if so fine because a flying Abada is a proven performer. But will he be right at it? That’s hard to say. Rodgers says Kuhn is quality, but he’s going to have to prove it. If he’s not, Celtic have an issue.

In attack I don’t mind Oh Hyeon-gyu. I think he’s got something as a back-up, but he’s not ready to take over full-time from Kyogo. Anthony Ralston can cover Johnston on the domestic scene, but left-back is glaring and it’s poor that it’s not been sorted with less than a week left.

I believe a large portion of the worry among punters stems from the fact that the Rangers don’t appear to be going away. Although Hibs aren’t very good, Philippe Clement’s team destroyed them in Leith earlier this season in a way that Celtic was unable to match. Four days after traveling to Aberdeen, Rodgers‘ team returned there on Wednesday of that week. Celtic needs to get through this challenging time.

Overall, I believe they now possess the necessary quality, but they are moving too quickly. It really wasn’t necessary for this window to be so intricate. Why then is that the case?

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