Celtic snapped up defender Lee O’Connor on Monday night.
Celtic were busy on deadline day, bringing in three signings to bolster Neil Lennon’s squad – and all of them were full backs.
The Bhoys have seen a host of full backs leave the club this summer, with Mikael Lustig, Cristian Gamboa, Kieran Tierney and Emilio Izaguirre all moving on, whilst Jeremy Toljan’s loan came to an end.
That meant that Neil Lennon had to completely rebuild his full back ranks, bringing Hatem Abd Elhamed and Moritz Bauer on the right as well as Boli Bolingoli on the left.
On deadline day, Celtic added another first-team left back in Greg Taylor, but also added two more full backs for the future in Jeremie Frimpong and Lee O’Connor.
Arriving from Manchester City and Manchester United respectively, Frimpong and O’Connor have plenty of youth football under their belts, and can both play in the two full back spots.
That versatility will be key in the future, and O’Connor at least has some familiar faces at Parkhead, with Republic of Ireland Under-19 teammate Jonathan Afolabi at the club too.
Striker Afolabi joined Celtic from Southampton on a free transfer last month, and with the pair reuniting, O’Connor has admitted to the club’s official website that he spoke to Afolabi about his move.
Afolabi told him that everyone has made him feel welcome at Celtic, and how much he’s liked his time with the Bhoys having been able to settle in quickly, and that positive appraisal helped 19-year-old O’Connor make his move up to Glasgow.
“I spoke to Johnny and he told me how everyone made him feel welcome, how well he’s settled in and how much he likes it, so that really helped me too,” said O’Connor.
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