Kieran Tierney made his long-awaited second debut for Celtic when he lined up against St Mirren from the start on Sunday in the first game of the Scottish Premiership season.
The Scotland international moved on from Parkhead to sign for Premier League giants Arsenal six years ago, after making 170 first-team appearances in his first spell in Glasgow.
Tierney will now be looking to add to the five Premiership titles that he already has under his belt by winning the league with the Hoops this term.
Brendan Rodgers will have to be careful with his fitness, though, as the defender had to be subbed off in the 65th minute against St Mirren, after he appeared to run out of steam.
Celtic made approach to sign a new left-back
The Hoops are in the market to bring in another left-sided defender to provide support for Tierney, and a new target to bolster their squad in that position has emerged.
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According to Italian outlet L’Unione Sarda, Celtic are one of the teams interested in a potential deal to sign Cagliari left-back Adam Obert this summer.
The report claims that the Premiership champions made an approach to sign the 22-year-old talent, but there was a difference between what the Hoops were wanting to pay and what the Serie A side want for his services.
It adds that Celtic will need to come back in with a higher offer if they want to sign the Slovakia U21 international before the end of the window, and it remains to be seen if they will or not.
Why Celtic should sign Adam Obert
The Hoops should go back in with another approach for the versatile star, who can play left-back or centre-back, because he would be perfect for Tierney this season.
As aforementioned, Rodgers has to be mindful of the experienced full-back’s injury record, which is incredibly concerning on paper, to say the least.
24/25
1
160
18
23/24
3
103
21
22/23
0
0
0
21/22
2
116
17
20/21
4
87
19
19/20
1
97
19
18/19
5
140
27
17/18
1
23
5
16/17
1
86
16
As you can see in the table above, Tierney has missed a lot of football through injury throughout his career, which is why signing a player like Obert is crucial.
The Cagliari defender has only missed eight games through injury in his career to date, including just five in the last three seasons combined, which suggests that he has the durability to provide cover for the Scottish star.
Obert only started 13 of his 21 appearances in the Serie A during the 2024/25 campaign, which shows that he is used to not being the first-choice, and averaged 2.6 tackles and interceptions per game in that time.
The 22-year-old ace also starred for Slovakia at the U21 European Championship earlier this summer, starting all three of their matches in the tournament.
He scored one goal and completed 94% of his attempted passes across those three games, whilst he also made an eye-catching 7.3 clearances per match and won 59% of his duels.
These statistics suggest that Obert has the potential to be a composed player on the ball who is also well-positioned defensively to win duels and make clearances, which is why he could come in at Celtic to be a solid and reliable operator as a deputy to Tierney.
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Overall, the Cagliari defender would be perfect for Tierney because he is used to being a back-up, has a very impressive fitness record, and appears to have the defensive quality to step in when needed.
This means that Rodgers can start the Scottish left-back week-in-week-out and still be able to take him off after 60 minutes, or whenever he feels he has hit his limit, because Obert is good enough to step in and play when needed.
