I’m not having the girlfriend excuse- Chris Sutton on Celtic’s strangest transfer

Three weeks on and Chris Sutton can’t believe that Celtic sold Carl Starfelt.

Halfway through a four year contract the defender was sold to Celta Vigo for roughly the same £4.5m that the hoops had paid Rubin Kazan for the Swede.

Without anyone going on the record the move was believed to be driven by Starfelt wanting to be closer to his partner Jacynta who had left Celtic for Sporting Lisbon earlier in the summer.

That criteria met with approval from most but on pure football grounds Sutton can’t believe that his old club took on such a high risk move.

In the Daily Record the former Celtic striker explained:

Carl Starfelt was an experienced campaigner. I still can’t get my head around the decision to sell Starfelt before the end of the window. Carter-Vickers was coming back after a long injury and could have been eased in.

If everything was rosy on August 31 they could have then let him go. I’m not having the girlfriend excuse. He is a professional footballer who was under contract. He should only go on the club’s terms. The Nawrocki signing probably changed the thinking and I know Celtic’s model but you can’t be talking about improvement in the Champions League and then replacing internationals with rookies.

Next Sunday at Ibrox Sutton will be ringside for the Glasgow Derby as a makeshift Celtic defence are put in the firing line for their biggest domestic test.

With Carter-Vickers and Nawrocki out injured there is speculation that Celtic are looking to bring in an experienced defender, possibly on loan.