Key areas of Celtic team where club's next manager must deliver upgrades

Major surgery will require to be carried out on the Celtic squad over the summer.

Greek keeper Vasilis Barkas has never appeared on the ball during his torturous first season at Celtic Park and a new keeper may be one of many arrivals targets by the club's next manager. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

The expected appointment of a director of football, operating under in-coming chief executive Dominic McKay, will ensure the next Celtic manager will be part of an entirely new executive structure at the Parkhead club. The wish list for signings Neil Lennon’s successor will seek in order to wrestle back the title has to be extensive. It is likely to revolve around the following positions:

GOALKEEPER

An intractable problem for Celtic this season has been the inability of Vasilis Barkas to make the role his own following a £4.5m summer move from AEK Athens. The Greek was signed to compensate for the failure to convince Fraser Forster to spend another season on loan from Southampton, following the England international’s outstanding form in that role the previous year.

The need for midfeld reinforcements will extend significantly beyond the deal that will see teenager Liam Shaw move to Celtic from Sheffield Wednesday in the summer. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

Scott Bain is currently the man in possession, patience having been exhausted with Greek international Barkas because his shot-stopping abilities and confidence, behind an admittedly ever-changing, ever-porous backine, have proved in desperately short supply. It is unlikely Bain is considered the long-term option. The question then becomes whether the new Celtic manager believes Barkas has it in him to shake-off the profound problems that beset him in his first season in a new country and deliver on the pedigree touted on his arrival. If that isn’t considered likely, Celtic must go into the market for a new no.1.

RIGHT-BACK

Everton loanee Jonjoe Kenny has proved a solid addition since being recruited last month in the wake of Jeremie Frimpong’s £11.5m move to Bayer Leverkusen. The former England under-21 will return to Goodison in the summer, though, which means Celtic will have no recognised senior player for the right-back berth. A hefty slice of any transfer budget may then have to be spent on an experienced performer to play there.

CENTRE-BACK

Unearthing a replacement for the sure-to-be-departing Odsonne Edouard might well be the most pressing matter for the incoming Celtic manager. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

The move away that Kristoffer Ajer sought last summer will surely happen this summer. Celtic will be looking for around £15m for the 22-year-old Norwegian international. Any bounty will immediately have to re-invested. Indeed, potentially on two players to operate at the heart of their defence, which has been entirely dysfunctional as Shane Duffy has endured a dismal time on loan from Brighton. Mainstay Christopher Jullien is not expected to be fit for the start of next season. Following knee ligament surgery last month, the timescale for his return could be between six and nine months. Home-grown 21-year-old Stephen Welsh has gained valuable experience this year, and acquitted himself decently, but Celtic will not want to head into next season relying on the inexperienced performer.

WING

Only two years ago, a matter of weeks before he left Celtic for Leicester City, Brendan Rodgers snarkily remarked that the club had about “million wingers” in questioning the acquisition of Marian Shved. The Ukrainian has since been packed off on loan seemingly never to return, and with the long-term ankle injury that has rendered James Forrest unavailable for six months, Celtic’s wide options have been reduced to zilch this season. An almighty problem that has left them hideously misshapen at times in the final third across this grim season. Forrest is scheduled shortly to return, but the burden for providing width cannot be placed solely on the shoulders of the redoubtable attacker going forward.

MIDFIELD ANCHOR

It would be judicious, for the sake of continuity and so much else related to Celtic’s squad godfather, to retain the services of Scott Brown. Yet, as he will be 36 before next season starts, the club captain could only be expected to play a support role if he stays. Ismaila Soro has shown great industry and effectiveness in breaking up play as Brown’s deputy following his recent emergence, but the slight midfielder doesn’t address Celtic’s lack of physicality in the centre of the pitch. Such a figure must be one of the incoming players in the summer, even when the club have already agreed a pre-contract with bustling midfielder Liam Shaw that will see highly-regarded teenager arrive from Sheffield Wednesday in the close season.

ATTACK

One of the most acute issues that a new Celtic manager will be required to address concerns the club’s attacking options. His biggest headache will be replacing Odsonne Edouard. The Frenchman has sometimes given the impression this has been a season too far from him in Scotland. The move he desired last summer will be granted with a first suitable offer in the next window for a player about to enter the final year of his deal. Even with a fuzzy focus, though, the hugely talented forward has still been the principal goal source for the club, with a tally of 20 in an up-and-down campaign. For various reasons, Leigh Griffiths, Albian Ajeti and Patryk Klimala cannot be relied upon to assume that mantle from Edouard next season. A statement striker acquisition requires to be the new Celtic manager’s first foray into the market, then. No question.

However, recasting Celtic’s frontline alternatives cannot begin and end there. Mohamed Elyounoussi, on the periphery for much of this season, will see a second successive loan deal from Southampton expire in the close season. A permanent deal for the 26-year-old attacker would seem unlikely, even if he has bagged 13 goals with limited game time. His departure would appear as if willl coincide with Ryan Christie moving to pastures new. The always-grafting Scotland international has been in erratic form this season, on the back of plundering 19 goals last campaign, and is known to be keen to spread his wings beyond Parkhead. In addition, the future for mercurial playmaker Tom Rogic would appear as uncertain as his performance levels. That all adds up to mighty market-problem solving for Celtic’s next manager.

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