With the January transfer window closing at midnight tonight (31st January) there is a lot of speculation and rumours about what is going to happen at Celtic.

Most of the rumours are focusing on players that will be leaving the club, and late on the 30th of January, it emerged that an English side were keen on signing a Celtic player on loan.

Steve Welsh/Getty Images Sport

Sky Sports News news editor Anthony Joseph, who often has his eye on the ball when it comes to Celtic stories, reported that promotion chasing English League One side Sheffield Wednesday want to sign Hoops centre-back Stephen Welsh on loan for the rest of the season.

Welsh has made just six appearances for the Hoops this season, and he is currently fourth choice centre-back at the club behind the first choice pairing of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt, and January signing Yuki Kobayashi.

On the face of it, the move looks to be an attractive one for the 23-year-old. Sheffield Wednesday are still a big club, and they look set to win promotion to the Championship this season, and it could be a chance for the player to get some game time which he probably won’t get at Celtic Park.

However, it would be a mistake for the Hoops to agree to such a deal. Even though Bosun Lawal recently made his Celtic first-team debut, if Welsh did leave, the Hoops would be down to three centre-backs, and that would be a concern especially if one of the trio suffered a long-term injury.

You don’t want to take that risk, especially with Celtic looking well-placed as it stands to win a few trophies in the second-half of the season, and even though that wouldn’t be at risk exactly if the Hoops decided to let Welsh leave on loan, it would still be a bit of a risk to leave the Bhoys with only three centre-backs for the rest of the season.

Steve Welsh/Getty Images Sport

It might be a quieter transfer window deadline day for Celtic than it has been in the past, as there is no need for the Bhoys to bring in a raft of players on the final day of the window, and some fringe players might well leave the Hoops.

But even though Welsh is a fringe player, it wouldn’t be the best idea to allow Welsh to leave Celtic at this particular moment in time.