Celtic's curious case of outgoing player Gustaf Lagerbielke

That phrase certainly springs to mind regarding Celtic defender Gustaf Lagerbielke. The Swede arrived amid a real fanfare of trumpets from Elfsborg for £3 million in the summer window. Barely five months later Lagerbielke looked to be heading to Italy to sign for Lecce on loan until the end of the season with the Serie A side having an option to buy.

However, another injury to Cameron Carter-Vickers saw Celtic put the blockers on Lagerbielke's departure at the 11th hour as the champions' transfer window strayed into the 'Theatre of the Absurd'. Indeed Samuel Beckett or Harold Pinter could not have come up with a better script between the pair of them as it all descended into a bit of a shambles ahead of the window shutting at 11:30 pm tonight.

It is Lagerbielke who is now cast in the starring role here as he is struggling in Celtic's chaotic transfer window world that he does not fully understand and there seems to be no escape from. Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers now has a real problem on his hands. How do you deal with a problem called Lagerbielke? The Swede is unhappy at being denied a dream move to Serie A. The player has expressed a desire to join Leece.

Speaking to Tuttomarcatoweb, Lagerbielke said: “Lecce has shown a very strong interest in me. I want to go, play and make a difference.

"All footballers dream of playing in the big leagues. And I have dreamed of Serie A since I was a child. Many Scandinavian footballers have played in Lecce, this would be an advantage in terms of settling in."

It remains to be seen if the deadlock or impasse can be broken on this particular deal or if Lagerbielke will stay in Glasgow's east end for the time being at least.

Yet back in August, a supposedly different chapter was being penned. Lagerbielke seemed the ideal replacement for departed fellow Swede Carl Starfelt. The two players shared the same agent after all. I'll repeat that line the two Swedish defenders shared the same agent after all. We'll come back to that. The 23-year-old arrived in Glasgow's east end highly-rated and he was viewed as one of the best defenders in the Swedish Allsvenskan and had represented his country at the international level.

On being unveiled a confident Lagerbielke said: “It feels really good, and I’m excited and proud to be here. The first thing you think of when you hear the name ‘Celtic’ is obviously the fans, this stadium and the atmosphere the fans create here. I also think of all the good players who have played here and who are playing here now, so I’m really excited to play with them and hopefully win a lot of games and titles.”

READ MORE: Gustaf Lagerbielke Celtic transfer latest with loan exit 'close'

With Lagerbielke coming in it also looked like the end of the road for Irishman Liam Scales.  A tentative start saw Lagerbielke given an initial run in Brendan Rodgers's first team and he showed early signs of promise, but when Cameron Carter-Vickers limped out at Pittodrie and was diagnosed as being injured long-term the Northern Irishman was faced with the daunting prospect of going to Ibrox for the first Glasgow derby game of the season in September with a defensive pairing of Lagerbielke and Scales.

It turned out to be a watershed moment for both men in their respective Celtic careers. Football is full of sliding doors moments and both men were about to have theirs. Scales took all the plaudits as he and Lagerbielke repelled everything that Rangers could throw at them and the game was won 1-0 courtesy of a superb strike from Kyogo Furuhashi. Scales has never looked back and has gone on to cement his place as an automatic pick for Rodgers on the left-hand side of the defence.

Lagerbielke's card on the other hand was marked by Rodgers that day. Particularly when during the match a challenge on him by Cyriel Dessers just inside the Celtic half saw the Rangers attacker race clear and he squared the ball for Kemar Roofe, who took a touch before firing past Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart. Referee Don Robertson checked the pitchside monitor at the behest of the VAR and ruled the goal out for a foul on Lagerbielke. The big Swede got away with one all right and his manager knew it.

As Rodgers said: “Listen, enough people are looking at it now. As I said to Gus at half-time, ‘You’ve got to learn your lesson there’.

“You’ve got to get the passing going quicker and he maybe needs another angle there quicker. Firstly, I thought Gus was slow on it and we needed to make a better angle for him and that's why he probably stayed on it a little bit longer. He will learn from that as a young player, that you can't dwell on it, you have got to see the pass and be clean and get it away."

READ MORE: Rodgers reacts to Rangers vs Celtic disallowed goal flashpoint

Things got worse for Lagerbielke in the same month during the club's opening Champions League fixture against Feyenoord away in Rotterdam when he was red-carded for two bookable offences as Celtic lost 2-0 and were reduced to nine men. Lagerbielke and Odin Thiago Holm's ordering offs cost Celtic dearly on the night.

The manager was not in a forgiving mood and opined: "The first one you just have to shepherd it through to the goalkeeper, don’t get into the fight as it’s getting to Joe Hart, it’s just inexperience. We can avoid that situation for sure, even though it's a bit harsh."

Those two key incidents on the biggest of occasions only served to highlight the Swede's Achilles heel and major weakness in his game - a lack of pace. The manager knew it there and then. He diplomatically kept his cards close to his chest, but his alarm bells were ringing then and they haven't stopped since.

Rodgers confounded the issues of mistrust in Mark Lawwell's recruitment process by admitting in early December that despite both being fit and training with the first team Lagerbielke and Polish defender Maik Nawrocki weren't doing enough to warrant their places in matchday squads and that better players were ahead of them in the Parkhead pecking order.

The 51-year-old said: "It's always personality. There are players ahead of them. What always ticks my attention is training, I'm out there every day watching training and when I see players train and work with that personality they will edge closer to my thinking.

"Unfortunately, for Maik and Gustaf, Scales has come to the team and has taken his opportunity. Nat Phillips has been a great positive influence. It's an area of the team you don't want to change too much."

Ironically things briefly looked up for Lagerbielke when he came on as a substitute - after Stephen Welsh was preferred to start over him - and nodded in a late winner at Celtic Park against Feyenoord to hand Celtic their first Champions League group stage victory for a decade. It still wasn't enough to be included in the matchday squad for the clash with Hearts just days later with Cameron Carter-Vickers returning to the first-team fold.

Rumours started to circulate then that Lagerbielke could be heading on loan to Italy. Rodgers did little to quell the story or emphatically put it to bed again: "Well, we shall see. Gus came in and scored the winning goal during the week, so yeah I think what will take place in January will sort itself out."

Until the injury to Carter-Vickers, Lagerbielke was heading for the exit door and the Celtic supporters were dumbfounded as to why. However, if Welsh is one of the defenders deemed to be better than Lagerbielke then that tells you all you need to know about Celtic's recruitment processes, or lack of them.

Why was Lagerbielke recruited in the first place? Who did the footballing due diligence on this signing? Did Celtic take the word and recommendation of an agent as gospel and fail to carry out any proper due diligence on the player? What was Rodgers' role - if any - in this signing as he was well in situ by then? Who signed off on the final decision to sanction £3 million on Lagerbielke's transfer? What has gone wrong?

How can a player worth £3 million and with an alleged good pedigree not be suited to Scottish football? It is a shambolic state of affairs. Something in the recruitment process for this particular player has gone awry. You see, there are more questions than answers.

It is very clear that the manager did not fancy Lagerbielke as a player from early on despite being presented to work with him Rodgers felt that he could not improve him in any shape or form. The Celtic boss places a lot of stock and emphasis on players' respective attitudes at training. He studies everything about them every day and Rodgers wasn't having Lagerbielke from the get-go.

That is a damning indictment of the club's transfer policy and the head of recruitment. Not only that it is also a damning indictment of the Lawwell's role in all of this - both Mark and Peter. It doesn't matter because, at the top of the Celtic tree, there is never much accountability, is there?

READ MORE: Why Celtic's 'scattergun' strategy COULD be their undoing

So far five months into his Celtic career has yielded just nine games and one solitary goal for a total of 571 minutes for Lagerbielke. There will be many among the faithful who will argue that Lagerbielke hasn't been given a fair crack and that it is not a decent enough sample size to judge the merits or otherwise of the stopper. The Celtic supporters as well as the player can console themselves with the fact that they will always have Feyenoord.

Make no mistake though the original thought process of jettisoning Lagerbielke to Lecce by Rodgers was a power play. It was a warning shot over the bow to those at the top that he will no longer put up with having sub-standard players foisted upon him. You can also add both Marco Tilio and Kwon Hyeok-kyu to that ever-burgeoning list. Remember Rodgers wanted quality. He got quantity.

Whatever transpires before the deadline passes Lagerbielke knows exactly what Rodgers thinks about him as a player, which is why you have to question Celtic's reluctance to let him go out on loan. Wouldn't he be better served going to Italy and playing games at a high level and trying to improve rather than skulking around Lennoxtown daily? 

Rodgers has to contend with Lagerbielke's presence in the dressing room for the rest of the campaign as Celtic chase a Scottish Premiership and Scottish Cup double.  Miserable players can make dressing rooms a place of disharmony. The relationship between the two could already be damaged beyond repair anyway.

I'm no Beckett or Pinter but dare I say it,  it's all rather absurd, isn't it? There are more questions than answers when it comes to Lagerbielke. The biggest one of all being - why? Lager, Lager may have come to Glasgow with a big price tag and a growing reputation. However, ability-wise he turned out to be a case of small beer for Celtic and Rodgers.