Carl Starfelt ready for Celtic debut against Hearts | OneFootball

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The Celtic Star

·29 July 2021

Carl Starfelt ready for Celtic debut against Hearts

Article image:Carl Starfelt ready for Celtic debut against Hearts

Carl Starfelt has declared that he is ready to face Hearts at the weekend. The Swedish Internationalist joined Celtic in a £4.2m move from Russian side Rubin Kazan and was introduced as a Celtic player today at Paradise. The 26-year-old told Celtic TV that if the manager wants him to play, then he is ready.

Ange Postecoglou has stressed that he needs quality in the door and having Starfelt available for the weekend is a huge boost after the disappointment in Denmark last night. The defender is eager to play if the Australian wants him to start.


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“It will be nice to meet the team and learn how the team wants to play, to meet the coach and get into everything. I think everything will happen very quickly since there will be a game already this weekend, so I’m delighted to get going. I’ve been waiting for it for some time now.

“If the coach wants to play me, I will, of course, play and give 100 per cent, so that’s up to coach whether I play or not. I’ve been training the last few days and I feel ready.

“My hopes are, first of all, to get into the team, to know how the team plays and just get a good start. It’s always a little bit of adaptation when you come to a new club.

“I want that to be as smooth as possible, and then we have bigger goals – I want to be successful here, for the team to be successful, to win titles, to play in Europe – I want to do all those things. But I need to focus on the here and now, and right now it’s just to get into the group and the team.”

Celtic are in need of defensive reinforcements after the defeat to Midtjylland in the Champions League Second Qualifying Round last night. A backline that consisted of Scott Bain, Anthony Ralston, Dane Murray, Stephen Welsh and Greg Taylor was selected for a must win fixture.

Postecoglou has added Liel Abada (RW), Osaze Urhoghide (CB) and Kyogo Furuhashi (ST) with Carl Starfelt (CB) also agreeing to join Celtic. There are a number of players linked with the club but Aurelio Buta (RB) of Royal Antwerp and Kristijan Lovric (RW) from Gorica have been linked with moves. However, the Celtic manager reportedly wants to sign another centre back, a right back, a holding midfielder and another winger not to mention another goalkeeper. Given that it is nearly August, Celtic should have had these glaring issues addressed in the last few months as we face arriving at Saturday’s opener with a makeshift defence that still requires major surgery even if Starfelt makes his debut.

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