Celtic have now jumped ahead of Rangers in the race to sign a £3m midfielder ahead of the January deadline, according to recent reports.
O’Neill slams VAR “re-refereeing” after Hearts draw
The Bhoys were on course to land a statement victory over Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts up until the 87th minute on Sunday and that, in many ways, sums up their season so far. Forced to settle for a point, Martin O’Neill’s side now sit six points behind the shock leaders and two points behind Old Firm rivals Rangers.
The draw wasn’t without controversy, either. Celtic have confirmed that they’ll be appealing against Auston Trusty’s red card after VAR intervened to upgrade his yellow card to a straight dismissal.
O’Neill aired his frustration about VAR at full-time, telling reporters: “The referee has given a yellow card. Obviously VAR’s re-refereeing the game.
“First of all, the ball is going away from goal, so the player has to get a hold of that and control it. And secondly, and more importantly, is that we’ve got someone covering.”
It’s not just on the pitch that the Bhoys haven’t had much luck, though. Away from the action, they’ve welcomed just two new names in Justin Araujo and Tomas Cvancara, who got an assist on his debut on Sunday.
O’Neill will be the first to admit that if Celtic are to catch Hearts, they need more reinforcements before the end of the January transfer window on Monday.
It’s not for the want of trying, either. Those at Celtic Park have reportedly set their sights on names such as Kasper Hogh this week and are now reportedly favourites to sign a £3m midfielder ahead of Rangers.
Celtic favourites to sign Silas Andersen ahead of Rangers
According to Fotboll Direkt in Denmark, as relayed by Sport Witness, Celtic are now favourites to sign Silas Andersen ahead of Rangers after the Gers surprisingly dropped out of the race to sign the Hacken midfielder, who’s valued at 40m SEK (£3.2m).
Celtic burst into race to sign “big” £2.6m star who’s better than Hatate
Celtic are reportedly interested in a deal to sign a star who would be a big upgrade on Reo Hatate.
The defensive midfielder, still just 21 years old, would add important depth to O’Neill’s side and there should be extra incentive in Glasgow to get one over on Rangers before the end of the month.
Described as “calm and composed on the ball” by Scottish scout Kai Watson earlier in the window, Andersen may hand Celtic some control back to their midfield this month.
Standing at 6’2, it would also be hard to ignore the Dane’s presence at the heart of midfield and at 21 years old, he is someone who would have an impact in years to come as well as this season for Celtic.
