Should Celtic have signed a central defender in the summer transfer window?
The former Scotland international winger, 61, has also pointed out that Celtic should never have been in a situation where they had to deploy Anthony Ralston against Neymar.
Ralston, who is just 18 years of age and operates as a right-back, featured for the Glasgow giants in their Champions League game against Paris Saint-Germain at Celtic Park earlier this month.
Although the Scotland Under-21 international’s performance against PSG was encouraging and laudable, it did not prevent Brendan Rodgers’s side from suffering a heavy defeat.
Former Celtic winger Provan has criticised the Hoops for not signing a central defender in the summer transfer window.
“After Rodgers led Celtic into the Champions League group stage, while hoovering up all domestic prize money, the Hoops now have £18m burning a hole in their bank account,” the Scotsman wrote in The Scottish Sun.
“It makes me wonder why an untried 18-year-old was lining up for Celtic against PSG recently. No harm to Anthony Ralston. Hopefully, he’s a first-team regular of the future and he looks the part.
“But putting him in against Neymar? That was unfair on the kid and down to Brendan’s failure to sign a proper centre-back in the transfer window.”
“That Brendan couldn’t find a centre-half in the transfer window was surprising, it was a priority position,” added Provan. “With more than enough money to buy a proper centre-back, someone has slipped up badly.”
Celtic may not be strong enough to compete with the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, but there is no doubt that the Glasgow giants are too good for the rest of the teams in Scotland.
The Bhoys are at the top of the Scottish Premiership table at the moment with 19 points from seven matches.
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