In spite of all the mayhem at Parkhead, the Hoops are finally showing some ambition in the winter window. They have little hope left in scripting the ‘ten in a row’ history, but the 2020-21 Scottish Cup is still up for the grab for the quadruple treble winners. They must aim for the silverware to have some solace after months of catastrophe and the signing of Jonjoe Kenny should help Celtic fix their defensive frailty.
Sky reporting that Jonjoe Kenny’s loan to Celtic is a done deal. #EFCpic.twitter.com/IPd1KtNWMz
— Royal Blue Mersey (@RBMersey) February 1, 2021
Much-needed Reshuffling At The Backline
The sudden exit of Jeremie Frimpong is hard to take considering the promises shown by the youngster from his right-back spot. However, the deal still makes sense from the Bhoys’ perspective as they received a massive financial boost from his move to Bayer Leverkusen amid the ongoing pandemic across the globe. Yet they had to find someone as a replacement and the arrival of Kenny would solve the crisis in central defence.
Kristoffer Ajer featured as a makeshift fullback in the past couple of games and the champions indeed lacked his presence at the heart of the backline following Shane Duffy’s shambolic display against St. Mirren. An injury to Christopher Jullien leaves them with the Brighton loanee as the only other outright centre-half option alongside Ajer, but the dismal Irishman must be dropped who has been worse than Nir Bitton despite the latter having his own lows throughout the campaign.
Addressing An Immediate Crisis
We must not blame the Israel international though. He is predominantly a deep-lying playmaker capable of slotting in a three-man defence. His howler against Rangers in the latest Old Firm derby proves the point. Having said that, Celtic’s failure to strike a deal with Ben Davies (who has been hijacked by the English champions Liverpool) leaves them with no other option but to rely on Bitton to pair up with Ajer.
The 23-year-old Everton prodigy has been involved sporadically over the past few seasons. He had a couple of loan deals in the lower divisions of the English pyramid before enjoying a starting status at Schalke during 2019-20 season. Kenny, meanwhile, has slipped down the pecking order behind skipper Seamus Coleman and versatile Mason Holgate and therefore, is allowed to leave on loan for the rest of the campaign. Eight first-team appearances are certainly not enough for his development and the experience at Celtic would help Kenny to grow his game. Neil Lennon has a colossal job to turn things around from utter shambles and the Toffees youngster needs to play a key role in their resurgence.
