Celtic must be commended for signing players early on in the January transfer window. It has given them time to settle in and adjust to their new surroundings and teammates. And it looks like that could potentially end up proving to be vital much earlier than one would have expected, especially after recent events surrounding the Hoops involving injuries and international call ups.

A lot of eyebrows were raised when Celtic decided to make a move for Matt O’Riley despite bringing in two midfielders already in the form of Reo Hatate and Yosuke Ideguchi. Just a few days on though and it appears to have been an inspired move on the part of the Hoops.

Callum McGregor was forced off the pitch against Alloa Athletic in the Scottish Cup in what is being feared as a concerning injury. Ideguchi had to be brought off as well.

On the other hand, David Turnbull is already out with an injury and Tom Rogic has been called up by the Australian national team for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers. Thus, this could lead to O’Riley getting his big chance much earlier than expected.

O’Riley looks set to get big Celtic chance sooner than expected

The midfield trio that Ange Postecoglou has most regularly relied on this season is that of McGregor, Rogic and Turnbull. But it looks like all three of them might not be available in the upcoming games.

Hatate impressed tremendously on his debut against Hibernian and would be expected to get a regular spot in the middle of the park. And another one of them might go to O’Riley. While the likes of Nir Bitton and Ideguchi might end up competing for the third one.

O’Riley was a standout for MK Dons in League One and hopefully he is up to the mark for Celtic if he does indeed end up featuring regularly moving forward.