CELTIC have a big rebuilding job this summer whoever takes charge of the team come pre-season.
The amount of loan signings and losing players who are coming to the end of their contract means there will be more upheaval than usual. Over the past three months, we’ve gotten to get to know one man very well in Oli Burke who has come in from West Brom and has been a very positive influence on this Celtic team.
The player has been so good there has been a clamour to try and get Celtic to land the player full-time next season – but do we need him?
Firstly let me prefix this by saying under the right circumstances and the right fee it would be a no brainer to sign the lad. However, those circumstances don’t seem to exist and that’s when you have to ask yourself a serious question; Do we NEED Oli next season…the answer is no.
The reason why I believe Oli won’t be needed is based on the hopeful emergence of Vakoun Bayo between now and the end of the season. If Bayo can get his chance, meaning Celtic need to be at least 2-0 up in a game with half an hour to go, then he can stake a real claim as Celtic’s first choice striker.
What that would allow Edouard to do is come in off the left where Sinclair is at present and you can chop and change between the pair on any given day or if injuries happen etc. Edouard is more comfortable in that role and can do more damage from that position. You then have James Forrest, Lewis Morgan and Maryan Shved on the other side of a front top three.
This could be a very potent option for the new Celtic manager come the summer without spending any big money. Burke was brought in to do a job for the here and now, and that’s what he’s doing. Any deal for the player would surely be another record breaker for the club.
Again this is not a reflection on the player and I have no doubt he’ll hand us a few more memorable moments when we will shout SIGN HIM, but with so many other important areas needing to be dealt with we’d rather see Celtic concentrate on replacing 50% to 75% of our defence come the summer.
Not too wrong there, defence is our priority. HH.