Talks between Celtic and Royal Antwerp full-back Aurelio Buta seem to have died down an awful lot in recent days.
Royal Antwerp’s most recent squad selection for their game against Kortrijk would suggest talks are a lot further away from being completed than recently thought after Aurelio Buta was included in the Antwerp squad for their Sunday tie.
Fans were convinced the Porteguese full-back was on his way to the club following reports from Walfoot Journalist Florian Holsbeek who claimed a £3.5 million fee had been ‘agreed’ and that the deal would be completed today.
Well ‘today’ was the 27th of July and Buta being selected for the Royal Antwerp squad rubbishes those reports.
Despite Anthony Ralston being our standout performer in our most recent 2 fixtures, looking at the bigger picture it’s clear to see that he isn’t Celtic quality.
Right back has always been a problem area for Celtic, for years now. Mikael Lustig was a cult hero and a fan favourite at Celtic but it was clear in his final few years that his legs were going and a new right back was needed. Years later, we still haven’t replaced the Swede.
Jeremy Toljan was a flop, Hatem Abd Elhamed was injury prone and made mistakes in key European games and Jonjoe Kenny’s performances were frankly laughable.
The only success was Jeremie Frimpong who no one expected to make the first team as quickly as he did, but he was gone within 18 months.
Celtic desperately need options across that back line, and the only option fans may feel comfortable with in the back 5 is Carl Starfelt and even he had a shaky debut, but that’s understandable given he had only trained once with his new teammates and hadn’t played since May.
Joe Hart’s arrival could be imminent, but more options are needed all across the board and Celtic need to act fast.
If the Board hadnt dilly dallied over Eddie Howe we would have been better prepared going in to this season. Ange should have been in 2 months earlier. I for one dont expect the team to gel straight away, this is a season of rebuild and i beleive Ange will succeed and turn it round in time when he gets is own players on board. Keep the faith and remember we are Celtic supporters faithfull through and through. It will get better.
1st comment that i have read with confidence that we are the best fans in the world,hail hail.
I wouldn’t say that Starfelt had a shaky debut. At the first goal, yes, his man came past him in the box, but it doesn’t explain why there were 2-3 men unmarked at the back post. I thought Starfalt had an excellent debut and we dealt with aerial threats from dead ball situations very well. Alas…we shot ourselves in the foot again, again with only a few minutes remaining.
Keep the faith. It can only get better.