Charlie Nicholas believes that Josh Doig should be Celtic’s priority January signing target.
The left-back made a huge impression last season at Hibs after being freed by Hearts, this season his performances have been more steady than spectacular.
Celtic appear to be well down the road towards signing Reo Hatate from Kawasaki Frontale, already this season Greg Taylor, Adam Montgomery, Boli Bolingoli, Liam Scales and Josip Juranovic have turned out at left-back.
With a month to go until the transfer window opens there is bound to be almost daily speculation on signing targets, picking up on his column in The Express, the Daily Record reports Nicholas saying:
Celtic need three signings in the January window and my top target would be Josh Doig. There is no doubt Ange Postecoglou is making good progress but they still need a bit more, especially defensively.
The backline was exposed again in Europe with the defeat in Bayer Leverkusen. There will remain question marks when Celtic play the top teams and they are still chasing Rangers in the league.
They need a left-back and I would go for Doig at Hibs. He has just signed a new contract so it would have to be a decent transfer fee but he is one for the future.
I see him in the Kieran Tierney mould and if he keeps developing he will get better and better. Celtic can’t go out and buy the finished article. They need to develop players and sell them on. That is the Celtic model.
It also looks like Celtic are quite far down the road to sign a second Japanese player in Reo Hatate, who can also play left-back.
Kyogo Furuhashi has done well and Takehiro Tomiyasu is also doing well at my other club, Arsenal, so it is clear Japan is a real developing market for European teams.
If Celtic signed both Doig and Hatate that would be the left-back spot covered and you could push Josip Juranovic across to the other flank to fight it out with Anthony Ralston.
I would also like to see another left-sided central defender brought in. The Celtic backline needs more balance and maybe somebody who is a bit more comfortable on the ball.
Watford and Burnley were apparently quoted a fee of £4m for Doig when they made enquiries in the summer, with a variety of left-back options it is unlikely that Celtic will be matching or bettering that fee.
Earlier this month Doig signed an improved Hibs contract keeping him at Easter Road until May 2025, CLICK HERE for his Transfermarkt profile.