da luck： This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
da apostebet： Celtic have completed the signing of Moritz Bauer on a season-long loan, but a deeper look at his abilities raises some serious red flags.
What’s the story?
Finally, they did it! The Hoops have signed a defender. The club confirmed the loan arrival of Stoke City’s Bauer on Wednesday, including an option to buy next summer.
The 27 year-old will spend the 2019/20 season in Glasgow, addressing a position that was desperately in need of repair after the departures of Mikael Lustig, Cristian Gamboa and Jeremy Toljan.
Bauer is a full Austria international and has racked up 230 appearances across his previous four clubs, but if you’re a fan worried about the side’s defensive deficiencies, you might want to cover your eyes now.
Can’t pass, can’t defend, but other than that…
The versatile full-back certainly has decent experience. He has played right-back, left-back, left-midfield and right-midfield thus far in his career, and will boost Neil Lennon’s depth in various positions.
However, there is absolutely nothing about his performance at any of his former clubs to suggest he is the man to fill Lustig’s shoes.
Whoscored list his strengths as crossing and concentration, but his weaknesses as passing, discipline and defensive contribution.
For a side who just got knocked out of the Champions League by conceding four goals at home, the last thing they need is a suspect defender who roams forward and leaves huge gaps in behind.
His ability on the ball doesn’t exactly fill you with confidence either – he has never completed more than 80% of his passes in a season, and in his only top-flight campaign with Stoke City, which also happens to be his most recent season with more than six starts, he mustered up a measly 65.6% pass completion rate.
His last two campaigns with double-digit appearances have also produced four yellow cards every 15 starts, nearly an average of one in three, implying he does not read the game well enough to arrive to challenges on time.
Those numbers are truly horrific, and for a team like Celtic, who will expect to dominate possession in nearly every game they play, the only thing worse than a defender who fails to defend is a defender who gives the ball away and then fails to defend.
With the mood around the club right now the lowest it has been in quite some time, an early error or two from the Austrian will see the fans on his back, and it’s very hard to envisage him turning things around with just a year to prove his worth.
Oh, and let’s not forget he hasn’t made a single league appearance for the Potters this season despite them currently sitting bottom of their division with just one point from five games.
We hate to be the bearers of bad news, but this one has got flop written all over it.
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