Chris Sutton questions Celtic’s Dorus de Vries’ form and suggests goalkeeper position is up for grabs

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The 35-year-old only joined the Scottish Premiership side in the summer.

Celtic’s Dorus de Vries

Chris Sutton has explained that he has not been overly impressed by Dorus de Vries’ start to life at Celtic, and suggested that the battle to be the Hoops’ number one is still very much there to be won, The Scottish Sun reports.

After the Bhoys stumbled over the line against Hapoel Be’er Sheva in their Champions League play-off tie, Brendan Rodgers decided to drop Craig Gordon – who has been the club’s first-choice since his arrival – and replace him with summer signing de Vries.

Craig Gordon

And while Rodgers appears to be confident in the Dutchman’s ability having worked with him previously at Swansea City, Sutton has questioned the form he has shown so far, and suggested that he should have done much better in their most recent clash.

“I don’t think De Vries has hit the ground running. I thought he should have saved the first goal at Inverness and caught the cross rather than punching it in the build up for the second,” he said, as reported by The Scottish Sun.

“It’s a position which is certainly up for grabs.

de Vries

“There’s a debate about goalkeepers with the ball at their feet. I don’t think I’m old fashioned — but I just want a goalkeeper to keep the ball out of the net and catch crosses.

After conceding two against Inverness, the former Nottingham Forest man has let in 11 goals in just four matches – seven of which came against Barcelona – and he is yet to register a clean sheet for his new club.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers

While he cannot be held responsible for all of the goals they have conceded in that time, that kind of record will surely give opponents a lot of hope that the Bhoys always have the potential to concede goals.

But with an international goalkeeper waiting in the wings, de Vries has the ideal motivation to prove his doubters wrong in the coming games by showing why Rodgers wanted to bring him to the club in the first place.