THE Scottish transfer window deadline is on the horizon and Neil Lennon is adament that his side's transfer business is far from complete.
The Celtic boss wants to recruit 'three or four' more players before the deadline on September 2, and a deal for Rosenborg's Birger Meling looks increasingly likely to go through.
The 24-year-old Norway international has been a regular for Rosenborg in this year's Champions League qualifiers and Celtic's pursuit of the left-back was handed a boost after the Norwegian champions were defeated 2-0 by Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League preliminaries on Wednesday night. If Rosenborg fail to reach the group stages of the competition, then it is believed that they will be more likely to acquiesce to a sale.
Former Celtic defender Vidar Riseth recently told The Herald that Meling "has been Rosenborg's best player in the last two seasons" and has little doubt that the full-back could make the grade at Parkhead. We've dug into Meling's numbers to see the type of player that Celtic could be getting.
READ MORE: Birger Meling's agent backs Celtic target to shine "at a stronger club in a stronger league"
Lennon's main concern with his current left-backs at present is that both are fairly attack-minded defenders. Boli Bolingoli, while it is still early in his career in Glasgow's east end, has looked suspect at the back while Jonny Hayes is a converted winger and lacks natural defensive instincts. These players still have roles to play at Parkhead, of course, but having a left-back who is primarily concerned with defending would be a huge asset to Lennon's squad. The figures that Meling has been posting this season suggest that the Norwegian would be able to plug this gap.
Meling wins sround 65% of his defensive duels - a very impressive figure for a full-back - and averages around four interceptions per game, which is again encouraging. Compared to Bolingoli and Hayes, Meling struggles a little in the air but this is compensated by the number - and success rate - of his tackles.
Offensively, Meling holds his own compared to Hayes and Bolingoli, but there is little doubt that Hayes is the best of the bunch going forward. The stats for the above graphic have been taken from the occasions where Hayes played left-back for Celtic last season, and neither Bolingoli nor Meling can match the Irishman's attacking output. Encouragingly for Celtic fans, Meling has the highest crossing accuracy out of the three players, and even eclipses Kieran Tierney's crossing accuracy from last season.
READ MORE: Why Vidar Riseth believes Celtic will beat off European rivals to sign Birger Meling
Meling's stats for Rosenborg are impressive, but this could be down to the fact that the Norwegian top flight isn't of the highest standard and as a result, the 24-year-old's stats could be a little inflated. But when we examine Meling's numbers at international level - the full-back has 10 caps for the senior Norway side - we can see that he has very little difficulty playing at a higher level.
When playing for his national side, many of Melings stats improve - despite the higher standard of opponent. Meling attempts more tackles, more headers and more interceptions for Norway than at club level, although his success rate does dip a little in some regards. Meling hits around twice as many crosses - and does so more accurately - and has marginally higher success rates in terms of his passing and dribbling.
Essentially, what this boils down to is that Meling, in many ways, actually improves when playing at a higher level alongside a higher standard of player. This indicates that Meling would be able to adjust to life at Celtic Park and his defensive nous would give Lennon an option that at present he simply does not have. Bolingoli and Hayes are better suited to matches where Celtic will have lots of the ball and plan on bombarding the opposition. But in matches where a little more caution is required, against opponents of a higher calibre, Celtic need a left-back who can actually defend: and Birger Meling is precisely that.
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