Neil Lennon is still in the market for a central defender but isn’t likely to go shopping in England.
On Friday Celtic completed the £7m signing of Christopher Jullien from Toulouse but the hoops boss is still looking to strengthen that area of his team.
Filip Benkovic and Dedryck Boyata are no longer options with Mikael Lustig no longer available to be pushed into that position.
Celtic have rarely spent big money on defenders, Brendan Rodgers turned to experience in Kolo Toure and the ill-fated Marvin Compper move, but after landing Jullien Lennon won’t be fazed over spending big to bring in another option for the heart of his defence.
“It’s serious money but the market is where it is now,” he told the Daily Record as he reflected on the signing of Jullien. “We have been quoted that amount of money for players in the Championship as well.
“Christopher has played at a top level in France. He has faced PSG, Lyon and Marseille and has come out of it very well. It’s just the market value. It’s a lot of money for us but the club think it’s a good bit of business.
“We will possibly need another centre-half too. We are running with Ajer, Simunovic and Hendry at the moment. So we may have to add another but Jullien is coming as No.1 – he’s that sort of signing. It sends out a message that we want to improve the squad and quality.”
Lennon will get his first look at Jullien in action tomorrow when he plays in a ‘reserve’ friendly against St Gallen ahead of the main match between the two clubs.
The Irishman is looking to give as many players as possible 90 minutes of action which is the thinking behind tomorrow’s double header.
Ten half time substitutions were made during Saturday’s 2-1 win over Wiener with Conor Hazard replacing Scott Bain midway through the second period.
That moment of panic…https://t.co/UeNQnrhWUN
— Joe McHugh (@videocelts) July 1, 2019
