Celtic have a winger crisis – and this is exactly why the squad needed more depth

Celtic have suddenly gone from having plenty of attacking options to having a genuine winger problem.

Haissem Hassan has now picked up an injury while away with Egypt, with the national team confirming that he is receiving treatment and will miss the current international window. 

Yang Hyun-jun has also been away with South Korea at the Asian Games, and is now reportedly injured also.

A timeline is not know for either. 

And that leaves us asking who is going to play for us with so many upcoming crucial fixtures?

Because when everyone is fit, it looks quite frankly average already. Hassan, Yang, Tounekti, Forrest, Duran at times have all played so far this season. And none have impressed so far.  

We do still for Jota to come back in eventually, but it is uncertain if he will come back the same player. 

Take two players out and suddenly we’re looking at Tounekti and Forrest, while Duran may have to be pushed back towards the wing despite showing his best form through the middle.

And that is exactly the problem with the squad we’ve built.

We needed better quality out wide this season. 

A winger who can beat a man.

A winger who can carry the ball 30 yards.

A winger who can create something when the opposition sits deep.

Against Castle Greyskull, Ferencváros and in the recent poor run, that lack of creativity out wide has been painfully obvious.

Hassan, despite only recently arriving, had already shown that he could provide something different. 

He looked capable of actually creating chances rather than simply recycling possession. 

Now he’s injured.

Yang is unavailable.

Jota is still working his way back.

And suddenly the attacking depth doesn’t look quite so impressive.

This is where the January window becomes important.

If Hassan’s injury is significant, Celtic cannot simply cross their fingers and hope everybody stays fit.

We need another winger.

Not another midfielder who can play wide.

Not another striker who can fill in.

A proper winger.

Because if we’re serious about challenging domestically and doing anything meaningful in Europe, we cannot have a squad where losing two wide players suddenly leaves us scrambling for solutions.

And this goes back to the wider criticism of the board.

Squad depth isn’t about having 25 names on a list. It’s about having enough players capable of doing the specific jobs your system requires.

Right now, Celtic are finding out that the winger department might not have enough of them.

And if Hassan is going to be out for any meaningful length of time, this shouldn’t be something we wait until January to think about.

Start looking now. Because I can’t bare to watch Tounekti or an old James Forrest any longer.