Journalist Pete O’Rourke has claimed Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou will be looking to try and improve the left-back area in the summer transfer window.
The left-back role at Celtic was shared last season between Greg Taylor and Josip Juranovic. Taylor is a natural left-back and featured 24 times in the Scottish Premiership, but suffered an injury in the early stages of last season which meant that Juranovic had to cover in his absence.
Postecoglou led his side to win the SPFL last season, which means that they will feature in the Champions League group stages this coming season, so the Australian boss will be keen to get some new talent through the door over the summer to ensure that they can compete.
With Celtic qualifying for the Champions League, O’Rourke told This Is Futbol that Postecoglou will be looking to make changes to the defence.
He said: “I’m sure Ange Postecoglou will be looking at options to try and improve [at] left-back this summer, especially now with Champions League football to look forward to as well for Celtic. So yeah, they’re going to need probably a few changes in the defence, and anybody that can improve things will be definitely looked at.”
TIF Thoughts on O’Rourke’s comments…
Postecoglou has made widespread changes since his introduction at Celtic Park, and with his arrival evidently being a success, as Celtic won two pieces of silverware, he will likely be trusted with funds in the summer to upgrade the squad on a greater scale.
The Hoops had a disappointing campaign last term in the European competitions as they crashed out of every competition, so Postecoglou will be keen to make the necessary additions to ensure this does not happen again.
With Juranovic having to play out of position at left-back for stages last season, we agree with O’Rourke that the Australian boss might look to bring in a new left-back to either start or be used as backup for Taylor, so Juranovic can play in his preferred position.