It was clear at the start of the summer transfer window that Celtic needed to bring in a quality defensive midfield player, one who could play the pivot role that Callum McGregor plays so well, but with more physical presence.
This was something that many supporters agreed that we needed, especially in Europe.
After missing out on Vinicius Souza early on in the window, it looked like Ange Postecoglou has changed his mind about bringing in that type of player to the club.
But then, on the very last day of the transfer window, Celtic signed Oliver Abildgaard, a 6ft4 defensive midfielder who was strong, physical but could also play with the ball at his feet.
But the problem was, we had Champions League games starting around the corner and the guy wasn’t fit to play.
We are now well into October, four Champions League group games down, out of the competition, and he still isn’t fit to start.
So what the hell was the point in signing him on the last day of the window?
The player is only on a one year deal or loan deal, whatever the technical contract is, at the moment it’s this season only, and we needed this type of player for these Champions League games and he’s not been able to play in them.
We don’t even know if he’s actually good enough as he’s barely played and has only made two or three substitute appearances and as I said he’s clearly not match fit, so we can’t even judge if he’s good enough yet.
But we saw tonight, just like in the other games, how easy it is for teams to cut through our midfield.
It is frightening how fast Leipzig did it at times tonight, it really was.
A player of Abildgaard’s apparent qualities is someone who could have made a big difference tonight, yet, we waited until the very last day of the window to bring a player of that type in, and one who isn’t even fit to play!
Baffling.
