It’s clear Celtic have landed a quality player in Mika Baur, it’s just a shame the board didn’t supply us with the quality he needs around him to flourish…

On Thursday night, Mika Baur made his debut for Germany, and had the privilege of becoming his country’s 1,000th cap.

Not a bad way to mark the occasion, is it?

He came on in the 77th minute of the Nations League win over Serbia in Munich, with Germany already two goals to the good.

He played well for the short time he was involved too.

So well, in fact, that Jurgen Klopp was moved to talk about him afterwards.

Here is what he said, as reported by BBC Scotland:

“Baur is an amazing player. Insanely clever, with an unbelievable technical ability.”

Insanely clever.

That is pretty high praise indeed coming from a coach like Jurgen Klopp.

This is a man who won the Premier League and the Champions League with Liverpool.

He doesn’t hand out compliments like that for the sake of it.

Klopp’s words give us an indication of the kind of player we’ve landed in Mika Baur

Baur is 22 years of age, and he’s only been at Celtic since August.

In that time he’s scored twice in 10 games, and now he’s a full German international.

He said himself before the game that the call-up “still doesn’t feel real”.

He also said something else that caught my eye:

“My strengths are definitely on the ball, but over the last year-and-a-half I’ve also learned to enjoy doing the dirty work, fighting and leaving my heart on the pitch.”

Now, tell me that’s not exactly the kind of player the Celtic midfield has been crying out for?

He’s young, and he’s brave, and he certainly has no fear.

You could see that last night.

By his own admission his heart was thumping when he got the shout, but once he was on the pitch it was business as usual.

That’s a boy who backs himself.

But he’s only as good as the team that surrounds him.

At this moment in time, Mika Baur is the standout player in a floundering midfield at Celtic

And that’s the problem.

Last night he walked into a team that had the likes of Florian Wirtz and Tom Bischof in it.

In 13 minutes on the pitch, he looked like he belonged there.

Then he comes back to Glasgow, and what does he have around him?

A captain in Callum McGregor who, as I wrote earlier this week, has been a shadow of his former self.

Luke McCowan, who looks like a player short of confidence.

Oliver Sorensen, who is still a mystery to most of us.

And Joel van den Berg, who has yet to kick a ball in anger for the club.

We were second best in the middle of the park in both games against the Ibrox side.

We managed two shots on target across the pair of them.

That tells you everything you need to know about what’s coming out of our midfield at the moment.

Baur can be as clever as he likes, but he can’t pass the ball to himself.

It’s just a shame the Celtic board didn’t push the boat out and supply Martin O’Neill with the kind of players that would help Baur to flourish

Because let’s not forget how this deal went down.

Back in July, we were grandstanding over £257k with Paderborn in an attempt to land him on the cheap.

That’s how close we came to not having him at all.

Whoever decided to sign him recognised that he’s a quality player, and credit where it’s due for that.

But they failed to recognise what it takes to allow a player like that to showcase the best of his talents.

You don’t buy a player like Baur and then leave him to carry a midfield on his own.

Of course, we all know why it happened.

One quality midfielder costs a lot less than three.

We chased Gvidas Gineitis of Torino over the summer as well, and he’s still at Torino.

This week, Marcelo Saracchi said that Martin O’Neill wanted him back at the club, but that it didn’t feel like the club as a whole did.

Says it all, doesn’t it?

The manager identifies what he needs, and the board decides what he gets.

And yesterday morning we read that the Ibrox side have overtaken us as the most valuable squad in the country.

You couldn’t make it up.

We’ve yet to see the best of Mika Baur, but we have to hope it’s as part of a title winning team at Celtic

In fairness, we are still top of the league.

And Baur is going to come back from Germany duty feeling ten feet tall.

But one player, however clever, cannot fix a midfield on his own.

Jurgen Klopp could see what he is after one substitute appearance.

The Celtic board have had him since August, and they still haven’t worked out what he needs.

There’s another side to this as well.

A boy who is playing for Klopp’s Germany at 22 isn’t going to go unnoticed for long.

If he keeps this up, the phone at Celtic Park will start ringing, and we all know how the board respond when it does.

They’ll see an asset – not a midfielder.

So we’d better build a team around him while we still have him.

The next chance to do that is January.

In order for that to happen, big changes are required.

And I don’t just mean in midfield…

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