On loan Celtic left back, Diego Laxalt joined the Hoops the end of the transfer window from AC Milan amid high praise from Celtic boss Neil Lennon. Lennon confessed that he initially tried to sign the Uruguayan full back after witnessing his performances in the World Cup in 2018 where Uruguay reached the Quarter Finals of the competition, losing to the eventual winners France.
Laxalt made his debut in the Glasgow Derby loss but has been a main stay in the team under Lennon. So far he has impressed the hoops fans with solid performances against AC Milan, Aberdeen and a superb display against Lille where he broke a 5 year long European record for most tackles in a game making 13 successful tackles to help his team to a valuable point in the Europa League. Lennon has hinted that the deal could be made permanent.
From his latest performances it seems Laxalt has the quality and ability to make a successful career at Celtic, but is it too early to talk of permanent deals? Maybe it is not a question of could Celtic make the deal permanent, but SHOULD they?
Ever since Tierney left the club in a £25m move to Arsenal, Celtic have been looking for an ideal candidate to replace the Scottish international. Boli Bolingoli was brought in from Rapid Wien for just over £2.5m but after his COVID misdemeanours, his career at the Scottish Champions seems to be over. Greg Taylor was purchased from Kilmarnock for a fee of £3m and so far has performed suitably, but is he the long term answer to the Hoops left back question?
There is no doubt that Laxalt is the preferred starting choice for Lennon and it is also fair to say that the boy is very talented, but after a handful of games would it be wise to jump in with a multi million pound bid at this stage? Time will tell.