One of the more interesting stories from the final few days of this transfer window for Celtic supporters is the interest in Stephen Welsh. At the start of the month, rumours swirled that the Hoops were ready to listen to offers for the young Scottish defender and potentially cash-in.
However, that seems to have changed with the departure of experienced central defender, Moritz Jenz, who left last week to join German cracks Schalke. With Moritz now in the Bundesliga, many would question if Welsh leaving would really be such a good idea; especially considering the potential to achieve another domestic clean sweep.
As we’ve seen with the injury to Callum McGregor, these things can happen out of the blue and can have lasting effects to the team. Greg Taylor’s injury at Ibrox changed the rhythm of the game and prevented Celtic from dominating the newest Govan club on 2 January. It was a major relief when we found out that Greg would only be missing for a short while. Even so, you noticed the difference when he was not there.
The worry is that if something should happen to Cameron Carter-Vickers or Carl Starfelt – who’s had his fair share of time on the sidelines since arriving from Rubin Kazan back in the summer transfer window of 2021, that do we have sufficient enough cover if Stephen was no longer there?
It poses an interesting question to the Celtic boss for sure.
Now it is being reported that Stephen Welsh would be open to a short-term stint away from Celtic Park, should Sheffield Wednesday make an offcial approach for the promising young centre-back. That is according to English journalist and Sheffield Wednesday supporter, Joe Crann.
Joe revealed on Twitter that Welsh is apparently open to making the move to the Owls even for just a few months until the summer for regular football. In his column in the Sheffield newspaper The Star, he writes:
“Meanwhile, The Star understands that the centre back would be open to a switch to Sheffield should the two teams agree after an enquiry was made – but that’s still a way off at this point in time.”
There’s still a good few hours until the window is officially closed. If the player is keen to go, that could be a crucial factor in how this plays out for Celtic and Ange Postecoglou, who this afternoon confirmed at his media conference ahead of tomorrow’s Scottish Premiership match against Livingston at Celtic Park that up to five fringe players are looking at opportunities to move ahead of the transfer window closing.
The Celtic manager also confirmed that there would be no further arrivals to add to the four already signed – Yuki Kobayashi, Alistair Johnston, Tomoki Iwata and Hyeongyu Oh with Josip Juranovic and soon to be confirmed Giorgos Giakoumakis the main squad exits.
As far as the Stephen Welsh situation is concerned, it is now a waiting game…
Paul Gillespie
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