Celtic miss out on Starfelt deadline
Soccer Football - Champions League - Round of 16 Second Leg - Bayern Munich v Chelsea - Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany - August 8, 2020 General view of a matchball, as play resumes behind closed doors following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) REUTERS/Michael Dalder
Celtic missed the 11pm deadline to add Carl Starfelt to their squad for the Champions League qualifier against Midtjylland.
During Tuesday there were encouraging sounds coming from Russia and Sweden about the defender undergoing a medical but nothing appears to have been completed during Wednesday.
There is the opportunity to add two players to the squad by 11pm on Monday, the day before the first match, but if that happens it would likely mean that the player would be making his debut in a Champions League qualifier.
Russian website SportBox reports Rubin Sporting Director Oleg Yarovinsky saying:
Starfelt has not yet moved to Celtic, but we are negotiating with them. Until the documents were signed, the transfer did not take place. Are we looking for a replacement? We have a full set of players.
With Kris Ajer apparently bound for Brentford and Chris Jullien recovering from knee surgery it looks almost certain that Stephen Welsh and Nir Bitton will be in central defence to face the Danes.
Ange Postecoglou has one more friendly before the competitive action kicks in with tomorrow’s match against Preston North End the last chance to look at players before the club attempt to reach the group stage of the Champions League.