Things have suddenly picked up pace for Celtic in the transfer market, after they had drawn heavy criticism for moving slowly once again this summer.

Two big-money deals have been agreed in quick succession. Haissem Hassan has arrived from Real Oviedo after starring for Egypt at the World Cup. It has already been made official

A deal for Mika Baur has finally been agreed as well. The player had been keen on a move and agreed personal terms weeks back. An agreement has been found with his club, SC Paderborn, in what is thought to be a club-record deal for the German side.

Celtic are not stopping there either. It looks like they are now on the verge of strengthening their defensive options as well.

According to a report from Stephen McGowan on The Celtic Way, the club are also close to a loan deal for a left-back.

Unfortunately, the identity of the player has not been revealed. And there has not been much in the way of speculation when it comes to left-backs for a quality guess to be made.

One thing is for sure though, it is certainly an area worth strengthening. Celtic need a genuine cover option for Kieran Tierney at all times, even though he did not pick up any long-term injuries last season.

His overall injury history is not great though. So, Celtic simply cannot rely on Tierney to be consistently fit for the entire season. They need someone who can take his spot in the starting XI and deliver if the need arises.

They did have that last season with Marcelo Saracchi. There was a good portion of the fanbase that felt that he was even better than Tierney and deserved more starts.

One can only wonder why Celtic did not end up signing him when Saracchi was available for a bargain transfer fee. Perhaps the plan has always been to fill this position on a loan basis while the investment is made on signing players in other areas of the pitch.

It will be very interesting to see who this left-back signing turns out to be, if the move does end up getting over the finish line.

There have been some whispers about a return to Celtic for Greg Taylor. Could it be him? The idea cannot be ruled out, even though he is training with PAOK at the moment and getting minutes.