Reigniting interest in Srdan Babic should be a no-brainer for Celtic

Back in March, prior to the start of the summer transfer window, a report from The Scottish Sun claimed that Celtic were interested in signing Serbian centre-back Srdan Babic from Red Star Belgrade. 

The 23-year-old was amongst a whole lot of centre-backs to be linked with a move to Parkhead in the summer, however, the Hoops didn’t firm up their interest in the towering central defender and eventually brought in other players to shore up the backline. 

Celtic found themselves under pressure earlier in the summer to complete a huge rebuilding job at the back, with the likes of Dedryck Boyata, Filip Benkovic, Mikael Lustig, Kieran Tierney, Emilio Izaguirre and Cristian Gamboa all departing the club. 

In response, the reigning Scottish champions splashed the cash to bring in the likes of Christopher Jullien, Hatem Abd Elhamed and Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo, whilst left-back Greg Taylor also arrived from Kilmarnock on deadline day. 

Barring Taylor, who is expected to link up with the squad after the ongoing international break, all the other new signings have already made an impact to varying degrees. Neil Lennon should be happy with how the new defensive recruits have settled down at the club, with Jullien arguably the most impressive of the lot. 

The manager, however, is likely to be aware of the fact that his team would be up against tougher challenges, not only on the domestic front but also in the Europa League. With that in mind, Lennon needs to ensure that he has enough depth in all areas of his squad to excel in all the competitions. 

To that end, right-back is one area that the manager should be looking to strengthen in January, or if he is happy to rotate between Kristoffer Ajer and Elhamed for a role on the right, he might as well opt to bring in another centre-back to bolster the ranks and maintain the right kind of balance. 

To put things into perspective, Celtic should look to revisit their interest in Srdan Babic when the window reopens in January in a bid to add more depth and solidity to their backline. 

The 23-year-old, who stands at 6ft. 5 inches with a towering frame, is an absolute beast of a centre-back and he apparently has all the attributes to adapt seamlessly to the Scottish game. Babic has represented Serbia at all youth levels, although he is yet to earn his senior international debut for his nation. 

Babic initially rose to prominence with Vojvodina in his homeland before earning a move to Spanish side Real Sociedad, where he featured largely for the reserve side before returning to Serbia with heavyweights Red Star Belgrade in 2017. 

The 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup winner hasn’t looked back since then and has gone on to establish himself as one of the mainstays of the club’s backline over the past couple of seasons.

Besides stamping his authority in the domestic league, Babic has also caught the eye with his impressive displays in the Champions League and the Europa League. 

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Still only 23, the towering centre-back is only going to get better with time and given that he is unlikely to cost Celtic a fortune, it should be an absolute no-brainer for the Hoops to go back in the market for the Serbian giant in January.