Celtic's Transfer Window: Strengthening Attack, Midfield Concerns

Haissem Hassan edges closer to Celtic. The banners and scarves can wait. Until he’s on the Celtic Park pitch with a shirt held aloft, it remains a transfer in motion rather than a done deal.

But if the Egyptian World Cup forward does complete his move, he will instantly change the look of Brendan Rodgers’ front line. Hassan, alongside new arrivals Kasper Hogh and Camilo Duran, would give Celtic a far sharper attacking edge than they finished last season with. Goals, movement, unpredictability – on paper, it’s all there.

The problem lies behind them.

Attack taking shape, midfield falling apart

Celtic’s recruitment this summer has clearly started at the top end of the pitch. Hogh has already added presence and penalty-box threat. Duran brings flair and a willingness to run at defenders. Hassan, should the deal be finalised, offers another direct option who can stretch a back line and hurt teams in transition.

It’s an encouraging shift. The team badly needed fresh ideas in the final third.

But while the forward line fills out, the centre of the pitch is being stripped back. Arne Engels is expected to move on. Reo Hatate looks set to follow. Paulo Bernardo has already departed. Three midfielders gone in one window, and none of them properly replaced yet.

That leaves a core of Callum McGregor, Benjamin Nygren, Luke McCowan and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Four players for a campaign that will demand domestic dominance and a serious tilt at Europe. Four players for a position that has been Celtic’s weak point for years.

It is nowhere near enough.

A midfield running on fumes

The issue isn’t just numbers. It’s profile.

McGregor remains the heartbeat, the metronome, the one who knits everything together. But he is no longer at the physical peak that allowed him to cover every blade of grass and drag Celtic through nights when the tempo dropped. Oxlade-Chamberlain, for all his quality on the ball and experience at the highest level, is in a similar phase of his career. He can still influence games, but he cannot be asked to do the running of two men.

Nygren and McCowan are in their prime and bring intelligence and technical security, yet neither is blessed with blistering pace. Neither is the kind of all-action, box-to-box force who can turn a game’s rhythm on its head with a surge past two opponents.

Celtic’s midfield has lacked that kind of energy and aggression for too long. It has shown up brutally in Europe, where opponents have been allowed to dictate the tempo, run through the centre of the pitch and expose a team that simply cannot match the intensity of the continent’s better sides.

Domestically, Celtic often get away with it because of superior talent and territory. In Europe, that softness in the middle has been their Achilles heel.

Defence steady, priorities clear

Yes, there are other jobs on the list. A new goalkeeper is required. A back-up left-back too – with Greg Taylor likely to remain the first choice in that role.

But the defence, as a unit, is not in crisis. It has its flaws, but it is not the root cause of Celtic’s most damaging performances. The recurring theme in those defeats has been the same: a midfield unable to protect, unable to press with conviction, unable to support the attack with the kind of relentless running modern football demands.

The contrast with the forward line is stark. Hogh has already shown glimpses of what he can bring. Duran looks ready to excite. Hassan, if and when he walks through the door, will only add to that sense of attacking renewal.

Behind them, though, the engine room looks fragile, vulnerable and on the verge of being seriously weakened by departures.

The real test of this window

Celtic have made an eye-catching start to their summer business. Supporters love new forwards, and with good reason. Goals win games, and there is a genuine sense that this front line could be far more dynamic than last season’s.

But if this window is to be judged a success, the story cannot end there.

The club needs at least one, and realistically two, midfielders with legs, bite and bravery on the ball. Players who can press, cover ground, and still have the composure to take the ball under pressure and play. Without that injection of power and energy, Celtic risk repeating the same pattern: plenty of promise going forward, not enough control where it matters most.

The attack is being rebuilt. The defence will be tweaked. The season, though, will be defined in that strip of grass between both boxes.

Celtic know exactly where their Achilles heel lies. The question now is whether they finally fix it – or watch another year slip away for the same old reason.