Celtic’s hunt for a striker to provide backup and cover to Kyogo Furuhashi will just intensify as the January window nears.
The red-hot Celtic striker recently suffered a nasty head injury in the 6-0 win over Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership and it was at that moment that the focus of Celtic’s squad depth was brought sharply into focus.
With Hyeongyu Oh now finding his shooting boots recently, the panic to get another striker lessens slightly but what if something serious happens to Kyogo that keeps him out for any length of time, could Oh really be the man to step into the ‘world-class‘ Japanese star’s boots?
Not according to some pundits. So that means then that Celtic will need to splash the cash and look to get a new number nine in time for the Asian Cup starting in January.
Speculation this morning linked the club to Japanese winger, Kanji Okunuki. But with his recent comments on his aims for the Japan national side, it seems Brendan Rodgers must look to other targets to avoid a selection headache in January.
TBR Celtic shared yesterday how Celtic were told how Lawrence Shankland could be a striker that could do a job for them in the absence of Kyogo and that seems to be a view shared by Peter Grant.
Grant said [The Go Radio Football Show], “Listen, we’ve spoken about it. We said he’s a proven goalscorer.
“He’s had a dry spell which happens to most strikers. But we believe that if he was playing for Celtic or Rangers he’d be in the squad constantly because they create the most chances.
“He is a finisher but I think his all-round game’s got better.
“He’s got in the squad and hopefully, if he gets a chance, he can put the ball in the back of the net.
“But if you look through them all, who would you say is the most natural finisher when you look at the [Scotland] group? I’d probably say Lawrence Shankland.”
Indeed, this is now the third time that Celtic have been urged to sign Shankland but I am not sure that many Hoops supporters would be on board with this.
The Hearts captain and Scotland striker is undoubtedly a very good player. But is he Celtic class? Could he be that man who gets the club at least 20 goals per season and deal with the pressure of winning every week?
I’m not so sure. But, you never know. The last Scottish striker Celtic had didn’t too badly for the club so who knows what Shankland could do?
In other news, ‘I’ll be honest’… Barry Ferguson admits he got it completely wrong about 25-year-old Celtic player