Celtic look like they have made a huge error in the transfer window this summer as one former player has now turned into one of the best defenders in Europe.
Carl Starfelt was allowed to leave the club to join Celta Vigo in the transfer window. The move was questioned on why it was allowed to go ahead especially when Celtic had Cameron Carter-Vickers out injured.
Indeed, Starfelt’s own reasons for leaving were simply that he felt that it was a good move for him and it seems to working out well for him.
According to football stats site, FBRef the Swedish international is now the best in Europe at making defensive clearances.
So far for Celta Vigo, Starfelt has made 80 clearances for the La Liga side which is 16 more than Virgil van Dijk (54), almost double that of Newcastle United’s Fabian Schar (42) and 16 more than West Ham’s Kurt Zouma (64).
Starfelt is also the 6th best in Europe at blocking shots on target and has only failed five times to tackle a player who was dribbling towards him.
According to the stats, Starfelt has also only made two errors this season that have led to a shot on goal by the opposition and has made ten tackles that have resulted in his own team regaining the possession of the ball.
Carl Starfelt was almost vilified by the media in Scotland and was also unfairly tagged as a bomb scare by some sections of the Celtic support.
The cold hard facts about his time at Celtic are this. Celtic were unbeaten anytime Starfelt partnered Cameron Carter-Vickers in defence.
He also won five out of six trophies and was a massive contributor to Celtic’s eighth domestic treble. In my opinion, Celtic made a massive mistake in letting him leave.
The only saving grace is that it has allowed Liam Scales to step out of the shadows and assert himself as an important first-team player for Brendan Rodgers.
In other news, Martin O’Neill now makes claim about Henrik Larsson as he defends time at Nottingham Forest