BT Sport pundit Chris Sutton believes that Celtic will have problems with the centre-back position later on in the season.
He says that Filip Benkovic has provided steadiness to the role, but that will all be a distant memory once he returns to Leicester City in the summer after a loan spell – and if first teamer Dedryck Boyata receives a high offer for his services, then the Hoops will find themselves in need of more centre-halves yet again.
However, he said that Celtic’s problems could arise before that, especially if a club bids for Boyata in the January transfer window – and if Leicester decide to offload Harry Maguire, Benkovic could be called upon a lot sooner than the summer.
“The centre half issue has worked out with Filip Benkovic coming in and Dedryck Boyata staying but it doesn’t take a lot of foresight to see the annual problem coming down the line,” Sutton said in his Daily Record column.
“Benkovic will return to Leicester next summer. Boyata will be gone. Celtic will need a couple of centre backs yet again.
“It could even happen before then. A big money offer could still come in for Boyata in the New Year and it would be hard to turn it down after letting £9m go a few months ago and no Champions League cash coming in.
“Leicester could cash in on Harry Maguire and Benkovic might get summoned.These are all scenarios that need to be insured against. They can’t afford a repeat of the summer when Moussa Dembele left on deadline day and Celtic acted as though it was a shock someone would come in for their top asset.”
OPINION
Even though Celtic may not be experiencing a problem with their centre-backs just yet, Sutton is right – it is definitely something that could arise later along the line. There will be clubs who come in for Boyata whether it would be in January or the summer, and this is something that they must prepare themselves for, rather than acting surprised like they did with Dembele. However, it is unlikely that Leicester are going to sell Maguire in the New Year, so fans can be pretty much rest assured that Benkovic will remain at the club until the summer. Maguire is a key asset to the Foxes side and there is no way that they will offload him in the transfer window. However, with Benkovic set to return to the King Power in the summer, Rodgers will still have to look for a new centre-back. There is no guarantee that Boyata is going to stay, and this is a situation that they must prepare for.