Celtic’s hunt for a right-back continues to rumble on as the club considers both Manchester City’s Yan Couto and Legia Warsaw’s Josip Juranovic. It appears that it is between Couto and Juranovic and that we will likely have an answer as to who will be signed in the next few days as The Daily Record reports that Manchester City are set to decide where to send Couto on loan.
The report states that Couto was blown away by the atmosphere on Thursday night as he was at Paradise for the win over Jablonec. The 19-year-old wants to play in Europe and continue his progression, believing that Celtic could be the best place to do this. However, Braga and Girona are also interested which means that City will need to decide on who they believe will benefit the player (and City) the most in the long run.
The benefit of signing a loan player from Man City is that Celtic get access to a player that we could not afford in a transfer. However, it only makes sense if the player has sufficient time to settle and bed in. This is why Celtic should only pursue a deal if it is for two years as another season loan just puts the hunt for a right-back into the long grass – unless they have someone in mind to sign a pre-contract.
Juranovic should be Celtic’s focus until City make a decision on who they want the highly-rated youngster to be loaned to. The Croatian Internationalist would be a Celtic player and not merely a short-term option. If a deal can be done, he should be Celtic’s focus.
Hopefully, we have some clarity over the situation as Celtic continue to hunt for a player to compete with Tony Ralston for the starting slot on the right side of Celtic’s defence.
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