Davie Provan has warned the Celtic board that they must give Neil Lennon a new striker next month.
Odsonne Edouard has effectively formed a one man strike force throughout 2019 with the signs of wear and tear starting to affect the Frenchman.
Oli Burke and Vakoun Bayo struggled to step into Edouard’s boots while Leigh Griffiths’ progress is watched game by game despite the promising signs shown in Cluj.
Lennon knows what he is looking for when the transfer window opens in just over a fortnight with Provan spelling that message out in The Sun:
If the suits in the Celtic Park boardroom know anything about this game, they’ll recognise Lennon needs help. If Odsonne Edouard were to get injured, Celts would be in bother.
While it was good to see Leigh Griffiths make his first start since August against Cluj, Lenny can’t gamble on the wee man getting back to his best. Celtic have to sign another centre forward in January. There are plenty of strikers warming the bench in the EPL who would bite your hand off for a loan spell in Glasgow.
No disrespect to Mikey Johnson and Lewis Morgan, who have been asked to play through the middle in recent derbies, but it hasn’t worked. Under Lennon, Celtic have ditched a slow build-up in favour of quicker forward passes. It’s a hell of a lot easier to get up the pitch if you’ve a proper striker taking the ball in.
With the league looking tight, signing another No?9 could make the difference for Lennon. Either way, he’ll know the days of Celts coasting to the title are over.
As well as his Celtic appearances Edouard has also played six times this season for the French u-21 side which will be involved in the Olympic Games next summer when Celtic’s European qualifiers get underway.
Yesterday’s Daily Mail linked Celtic with an interest in £5m rated Slovan Bratislava striker Andraz Sporar.