Celtic’s Cameron Carter-Vickers has been described as the best centre-back to play at the club since Virgil van Dijk during the side’s Champions League clash with RB Leipzig.
That is the opinion of Northern Ireland right-back Ryan McLaughlin, who was reacting to the player’s performance during their defeat at Celtic Park.
The Hoops came into the clash desperate for three points to get their Champions League campaign back on track, having sat bottom of the group with just one point gained from three matches.
The game was end-to-end, with Carter-Vickers impressing throughout.
And McLaughlin – once of Aberdeen – certainly had high praise for the centre-back, who joined the Scottish champions on a permanent deal this summer for a reported £6m.
The five-time Northern Ireland international tweeted: “Carter-Vickers is the best centre-half I’ve seen at Celtic since Van Dijk.”
TIF Thoughts on McLaughlin’s comments…
We believe that this is an extremely bold claim from McLaughlin, with Van Dijk going on to become of the best defenders in the world, with Liverpool having paid a then-record fee for a defender of £75m for the centre-back from Southampton in December 2017.
However, we can agree that Carter-Vickers has been an excellent piece of business since his arrival on loan at Celtic Park, having helped the side regain the Scottish Premiership title from Glasgow rivals Rangers last season.
And the 24-year-old impressed in the Hoops’ clash with Leipzig, earning himself a 6.8 SofaScore match rating, winning five of his combined aerial and ground duels and achieving a passing accuracy of 90%.
Therefore, whilst we think McLaughlin’s claim is bold, we do think that the international is right to be praising the United States centre-back.