There are quite a few areas of the squad where Celtic should be looking to strengthen in the 2026 summer transfer window. One of them is centre-back.

Celtic do have a few options in that area of the pitch. Auston Trusty and Liam Scales were the starting duo in the heart of defence for the majority of the previous campaign.

Those two might not be the most natural fit as a combination though. The issue is that both of them are left-footed, which makes things a bit more difficult for the one playing in the right centre-back role, whether it comes to building out from the back or defending all the angles when the opposition attacks from that flank.

The club also have Cameron Carter-Vickers but the American spent the majority of the previous campaign out injured. On his day, he is probably Celtic's best centre-back. But after the number of injuries he has dealt with over the last few years, we might never see him at his best again.

The club have also decided to part ways with Stephen Welsh this summer after his excellent loan spell at Motherwell.

So, it would not come as a surprise if Celtic do end up signing a centre-back in this summer window. Zinedin Smajlovic is someone who has been constantly linked in recent weeks.

There have been rumours of the club making bids for him. The second of them was supposedly a €6.5 million package including bonuses.

But then, there have been reports suggesting the completely opposite as well. TV2 Sport now report that Olympiacos are in pole position for Smajlovic, with Rangers and Hull City making contact with Sandefjord.

That largely backs up what CeltsAreHere have been reporting. Other clubs are active, but Celtic are not currently involved.

It will be very interesting to see where this thing heads from here. But considering how confident some of the reporting on both sides has been, it is hard to make which side to lean on.

One thing is pretty clear though, Celtic do need to improve defensively in the upcoming campaign.

A lot has been made of Celtic's lack of goals last season. In the league, they scored 39 fewer when compared to the previous campaign.

That is a problem. But at the same time, Celtic were significantly worse defensively as well.

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Celtic conceded 41 times in the league last season. Compare that to the previous campaign, when they had conceded just 26 goals. The year before that, the number was 30.

So, there is a need to improve in that department. And signing a quality centre-back could help ensure that.

Is Smajlovic that player? We do not know. Are Celtic even interested in signing him? That seems to depend on the outlet you listen to.

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