Rangers are reportedly bidding for Millwall defender Jake Cooper to add to their other centre-back signings while Scottish Premiership rivals Celtic stay quiet.
If you asked any Celtic fan which position they needed to strengthen this summer, ‘centre-back’ would surely have been a very common answer.
Despite cruising to a seventh straight league title last season, and another domestic treble, The Hoops looked a little shaky at the back on occasions particularly in Europe, where they suffered heavy defeats to PSG, Bayern Munich and Zenit St Petersburg.
Dedryck Boyata and Jozo Simunovic were a shadow of their 2016/17 best, January recruits Jack Hendry and Marvin Compper failed to make anything like a positive impression, while Erik Sviatchenko has now sealed a permanent move to Midtjylland.
But Celtic have failed to strengthen one of their squad’s few weak links over the summer transfer window so far. And, to make matters worse, Old Firm rivals Rangers are doing the opposite.
The Gers have paid around £5 million to sign arguably the best defensive talent in Croatian football, Nikola Katic, and have also liberated Brighton for Connor Goldson. The Seagulls were keen to keep the £3 million man, believing he had the quality to play Premier League football.
While it would be a little soon to suggest that Celtic missed a trick not signing Katic or Goldson, and that they should be making bids for Cooper too, Rangers are doing the sort of business that should be high on Celtic’s list of priorities.
The Gers are moving forward, or at least trying too, while Celtic are at risk of standing still unless they make some improvements to their squad.
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