Since the start of the season Celtic fans have been looking for a commanding assertive central defender.
Injury concerns over Erik Sviatchenko, Jozo Simunovic and Dedryck Boyata have deflected attention from whether any of them are actually good enough for the level Celtic aspire to.
Central defence is generally all about partnerships but between those three players plus Nir Bitton and Mikael Lustig there hasn’t been any hint of a convincing partnership.
It’s often the case that the evaluation of a player goes up the longer that they are out the side but in the last two home matches Kristoffer Ajer looks much more than just a raw young prospect.
Despite being only 19 years old Ajer is old beyond his years. He had already captained Norwegian side Start before he joined Celtic and showed up well on loan at Kilmarnock earlier this year.
He didn’t show up well away to Astana but he made himself available for the match and will have learned lots from the experience.
Sunday’s team news will be eagerly awaited- if Ajer is in the starting XI it could be the launch of his Celtic career for real.