Johansen becomes second Celtic addition

I’ve seen nothing of Stefan Johansen but I’m delighted we have signed a central midfield player.  Deficiencies up front are glaring, especially in the Premiership, but in Europe, the critical area is central mid, where we need to control more than we did this season.

Central midfield protects your defence and provides the foundations strikers stand on, it has been an important area for Celtic to strengthen since losing our top man last summer.

Conversely, Scott Brown is playing his best football since joining Celtic in 2007 but, as his European adventures were nullified by disciplinary action, the gap was unbridgeable.  Honourable mentions should go to Charlie Mulgrew, Beram Kayal and Joe Ledley, but in the case of Charlie and Joe, they were asked to play secondary, or tertiary roles, while Beram was promoted from well down the pecking order to a Champions League starter.

Please observe the usual caveats when a new player arrives.  New club, new city, new tactics, team mates, match officials and game atmosphere, Stefan has a lot to assimilate in the coming weeks.  It took six months for Victor to settle and at least as long before Mikael, Scott and Joe looked their best.

For Stefan and Holmbert Fridjonsson the primary objective of the next six months is to prepare for Champions League qualifiers, closely followed by a Scottish Cup tie against Aberdeen in three weeks.

Welcome to Celtic, Stefan.  You have a fantastic opportunity ahead.
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