Celtic defender Jozo Simunovic was linked with a move to Torino in the summer transfer window.
David Hay has suggested in The Glasgow Evening Times that Jozo Simunovic could become a regular for the Celtic first team as the season progresses.
Simunovic will remain at Celtic until January at least after his move to Italian club Torino in the summer transfer window collapsed.
As the 22-year-old defender revealed on social networking site Twitter, Torino wanted to change the terms of the deal with the Scottish Premiership giants at the last minute (click here to read more).
The Croatia Under-21 international was probably deemed surplus to requirements by boss Brendan Rodgers, but former Celtic midfielder and manager Hay believes that the centre-back can establish himself in the first team.
“For whatever reason the club were willing to pocket the money and allow the young Croatian to go – but in actual fact as this season develops I don’t think it would be too surprising to see him push himself into one of the first choice spots at the back,” Hay wrote about Simunovic in The Glasgow Evening Times.
“Before the acquisition of Kolo Toure this summer I had felt that Simunovic and Erik Sviatchenko might have been the best partnership – but what Brendan Rodgers has now is a decent bit of competition for places.
“I wouldn’t expect Toure to play every game purely because of his age so there are options there now to change things around a bit.”
Simunovic is a talented and promising young defender, and Rodgers would be wise to make the most of him in the coming weeks and month.
The former Dinamo Zagreb youngster is surely going to be determined and focused on proving to Rodgers what is capable of.
Celtic are at the top of the Scottish Premiership table at the moment with 13 points from five matches.
The Bhoys are three points clear with a game in hand and are firm favourites to win the title yet again this season.
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