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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
David Irvine

Sutton calls for Celtic transfer action as Oh overlooked by Rodgers

Chris Sutton has suggested Celtic need a striker alternative to Kyogo Furuhashi as Oh Hyeon-gyu struggles for minutes.

The former Parkhead striker reckons the South Korean has either been "poor in training" or Brendan Rodgers "doesn't fancy him" leaving a glaring hole in squad depth.

Sutton was mightily impressed by Celtic in the first half against Atletico but insists a striker alternative with the ability to hold the ball up or win free-kicks to relieve pressure was desperately needed as the match wore on.

However, Oh was not thrown into the mix in the Champions League contest with Rodges shifting his formation to send Kyogo and Daizen Maeda up front as a pair.

For Sutton, Giorgos Giakoumakis would have been the perfect option had he still been at the club, and even Oh might've had the qualities required. But the pundit is in no doubt that if Oh is not for Rodgers, then Celtic need to sign an alternative striker with hold-up ability.

And that's not to suggest Sutton is calling for "route-one dinosaur stuff" at Celtic. Instead, Sutton reckons a different style of striker would provide a "valuable alternative" at Parkhead.

In his Daily Record column, Sutton wrote: "If you can’t play through a team anymore because the legs have gone and you don’t have the back-up of the bench to boost the energy again without losing the quality in your play, you need a different way to relieve some pressure and get yourself up the pitch.

"Someone you can clip a ball 40 yards up the pitch and he’ll win you a free-kick or hold the ball up. Drag the opposition back and let your unit move forward and get a breath. Right now, Celtic patently don’t have that. Giorgos Giakoumakis could do it, but he left and Oh Hyeon-gyu might have been the one.

"But the fact he’s not playing much tells me he’s either being poor in training or the manager doesn’t fancy him because it was crying out for that type of striker. It’s not old fashioned, it’s not old school, it’s not route-one dinosaur stuff. It’s a valuable alternative."

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