Celtic handed huge injury boost before facing Bayer Leverkusen

It is no secret that Celtic do not have the deepest squad at the moment. And while their recent form has been terrific, a few injuries to top players could leave Ange Postecoglou with a lot of worries. We have already seen that happen once earlier in the season when Kyogo Furuhashi and Callum McGregor had to spend time on the sidelines and the side struggled badly in their absence.

Celtic were in danger of facing a very similar situation when they faced Bayer Leverkusen. Carl Starfelt has been out injured for the past several weeks and it is safe to say that the Hoops have felt his absence at the back. On the other hand, Christopher Jullien is still recovering from a long-term injury and has not featured even once in 2021.

Thus, Stephen Welsh picking up a problem in the last game might have turned out to be a huge worry for Celtic and left Postecoglou scrambling for options at centre-back. Fortunately, it does not look like it will come to that.

As reported by Football Scotland, Postecoglou said heading into the Bayer Leverkusen game:

"“Welshy (Stephen Welsh) trained, he got a whack on his cheek bone but he’s fine, everyone else got through it okay.”"

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Welsh has had a few injury scares in recent weeks. He hobbled off the pitch while representing the Scotland under-21 side recently as well.

Fortunately for Celtic, he has managed to come through it okay on both occasions. But it also goes on to show the lack of depth that they have at centre-back right now. If either he or Cameron Carter-Vickers were to get injured right now, Postecoglou would be expected to go with Nir Bitton in the heart of defence.

But then, that would leave a gap in the middle of the park. Thus, it is safe to say that Celtic need to strengthen their squad in the upcoming January transfer window.