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Celtic eye up Serbian defender Babic

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Celtic are in the hunt to sign Red Star Belgrade centre-back Srdjan Babic, according to CNN Turk.

The Turkish broadcaster claims that Bestikas, Nice and Feyenoord are also interested in signing the 22-year-old, who has made 22 appearances in all competitions for Red Star this season, including three in the Champions League group stages.

Celtic could find themselves short of centre-backs in the summer as Dedryck Boyata’s contract is set to expire and Filip Benkovic is expected to return to Leicester after his loan stint in Glasgow ends.

Good move for Celtic?

Babic seems like a solid young centre-back who could be a good signing for the Bhoys.

The 6ft 5 (transfermarkt) colossus has experience of playing in the Champions League against some of the best teams in Europe.

However when he played against Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool and Napoli in the group stages this season, Red Star conceded a combined total of 13 goals in three games.

Red Star did beat Premier League giants Liverpool in Serbia’s capital, but Babic was an unused substitute, and he has been in and out of their starting line-up this season in domestic football as well.

If Babic is cheap then he might be a good back-up centre-back, certainly an improvement on Jack Hendry, but he is perhaps not as good as Boyata or Benkovic.

This is Futbol rating 5/10

Likely to happen?

Celtic might have a fight on their hands to sign Babic.

He only joined Red Star permanently last season and he could see the Hoops as being a bit of a sideways step since the Serbian giants reached the Champions League group stages this season and the Scottish side did not.

Besiktas, Feyenoord and Nice are all reputable teams as well and could offer him more money than the Bhoys.

It does not seem as though Celtic will win this race.

This is Futbol rating 3/10

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