A thumping 5-1 win over Kilmarnock has restored Celtic’s top of the table spot in the Premiership standings. But their disorder in deep defence continues and Brendan Rodger, the Parkhead chief, must bring in reinforcements to find a way out of this problem.
They had been strongly linked with a move for Bosnian centre-back Samir Memisevic in recent months after Bosnian outlet Oslobodenje reported the news in August. The player has now opened up on the rumours admitting Celtic’s interest in roping him in. This is what the player said on the entire situation, as quoted from The Daily Record.
“As far as Celtic is concerned, there was contact. However, there is still nothing concrete been offered. So for the moment it’s just talk. But there are a lot of other clubs interested too because my contract expires soon.”
The 6 ft 1 in centre-back also revealed that he had been offered a new three-year deal by his current employers Groningen.
As reported by the Daily Record, the player is still waiting for a concrete offer from the Hoops despite preliminary talks. Memisevic has six months left on his current deal to run out, and that has understandably alerted clubs interested in securing a Bosman move for this 25-year-old defender.
Celtic are likely to lose out their preferred central defensive duo of Dedryck Boyata and Filip Benkovic on completion of the ongoing term. While on-loan Benkovic is expected to return to his parent club Leicester City, there’s massive uncertainty over Boyata’s future as the wantaway Belgian might even depart (The Scottish Sun) this January after being forced to stay beyond the summer window.
This leaves the Celts with Jozo Simunovic, Jack Hendry and Kristoffer Ajer as the only other available options. Simunovic and Hendry, meanwhile, have underperformed and struggled with fitness concerns whereas Ajer, though impressive, has mostly spent his time on the sidelines so far this campaign. A move for Memisevic, therefore, makes sense and they must step up the chase to tie him down on pre-contract terms when the transfer business resumes in the winter window.
Although Groningen are battling out to escape a relegation scare, the Bosnia international is a familiar name in Eredivisie circuit following his summer move from FK Radnik Bijeljina a couple of years back. He had featured regularly in their defensive line and earned fame for his ability to build the game up from the back.
A threat from set-pieces, Memisevic is known for his aerial supremacy as well as strong dribbling attribute to take the ball out from deep and ease off the pressure from the backline. His style suits Rodgers’ brand of football, and the gaffer should not delay any further as there is always the risk of the centre-back committing his future someplace else.
