Celtic's Asia Cup striking solution may be found in Scotland

The Asian Cup is looming large for Celtic, and the call-ups to the Japanese national squad and Korean team will leave the champions with a major problem. A striking department problem.

Both Oh Hyeon-gyu and Yang Hyun-Jun have already been selected for Jurgen Klinsmann's Korean side and Celtic are also bracing themselves for Kyogo Furuhashi and Daizen Maeda to be listed in Hajime Moriyasu's final 26-man final cut for the Samurai Blue. That leaves no recognised striker at the club.

So, recruiting a new striker in January has suddenly leapt to the top of Celtic's priority and shopping list. Brendan Rodgers badly needs a striker of repute who can spearhead the club's attack in the only two competitions left open to them to claim silverware.

The Asian Cup has not become a recent headache, Rodgers and the Celtic hierarchy have known about this for some time. In an ideal world, Celtic should have conducted much better business in the summer with regards to signing attackers but that is by-and-by. Add to the fact that at times this season Japanese talisman Kyogo has gone off the boil for Celtic and endured some lean spells in front of goal. He missed a sitter in the 3-0 win over Dundee at Dens Park on Boxing Day which he the striker of old would have put away in his sleep.

The $64,000 question now is who becomes a person of interest to Celtic? In that respect, the answer could well lie right under their nose and much closer to home. Celtic desperately requires a goal-grabber. Somebody who can hit the net with increased regularity. No projects. No punts. A bonafide plunderer of goals. Does anybody spring to mind? Who fits that bill?

Two names immediately jump out at you and if Celtic are doing their due diligence and their homework properly then Messrs. Bojan Miovski and Lawrence Shankland should both be high up on their January wish list.

READ MORE: Celtic set to table bumper transfer fee for Aberdeen ace Miovski

Without going into semantics the bottom line is that both players have a proven track record of scoring goals in Scotland. That primarily is the function that either of the duo would be signing on the dotted line for. Celtic supporters would contest that neither would score goals in the Champions League but that's an argument for another time. We live in the here and now. In the here and now Celtic have to add another attacker to their ranks.

Miovski at Aberdeen and Shankland at Hearts have shown that they can deliver the goods consistently. The former has battered in 14 goals in 27 appearances for the Dons in all competitions and has contributed three assists in 2,130 minutes of football this season. Eight of those goals have come in the Premiership and two of those counters have been against Celtic and Rangers. There has also been a couple of strikes in the Europa Conference League against HJK Helsinki and PAOK Salonika.

Aberdeen will quite rightly demand top dollar for their prized asset and rightfully so but Celtic could potentially throw in players who are deemed surplus to requirements as well as cash to try and tempt the Reds into business. The men from Glasgow's east end do possess the financial wherewithal to conclude a deal after all with over £70 million plus in the bank.

Celtic have already stated that the money was being saved up for a rainy day. The Asian Cup tournament in January ensured the Parkhead side that the rainy day had arrived. However, Celtic will not be held to ransom for the player and nor should they with Aberdeen slapping an unrealistic £6 million target on the 24-year-old North Macedonian.

Although former Celtic striker John Hartson believes that Miovski would be a revelation at the club even if they were forced to shell out £5 million for his services. Hartson said: "I think he’d be a brilliant signing for Celtic. I think he gets players playing off him. He's fantastic at holding it up.

"You know you got really good signs of getting a hold of the ball, linking players in, he’s a wonderful finisher. I would pay £5 million for him. I think he’s an outstanding player."

The Welshman also insists that Shankland could do a job for Celtic even though the Scotland international is also being touted for a move across the city to Ibrox. Shankland has 16 goals and three assists in all competitions so far during this campaign. To emphasise Shankland's worth to the capital club the second-highest goalscorer at the club has a measly two strikes to their credit.

The 28-year-old is not just the main man. He is their only man. Shankland once again demonstrated his prowess when he scored a spectacular late winner against Hibs on Wednesday night in the Edinburgh derby at Easter Road.

Hartson commented: “Either side could be in for him because you are getting a Scottish centre-forward, a good age, at 28.

"He scores goals. He scored goals for fun at Dundee United. He has been doing it for Hearts. The problem is for other teams, whilst he keeps scoring goals, his price goes up. Good for him. I am sure Celtic would love a player of his quality and of his natural goalscoring exploits. He does it against the big teams as well. I think he would be an excellent signing.

“The thing we would all be wondering. What would Hearts want for him? I don’t know how long he has left on his contract. He is 28 and not 21 or 22 anymore. He is still a really good age for a forward. You are looking to hit your prime in these years now.”

It's hard to disagree with Hartson's assessment of both players.

The Celtic supporters have had a birds-eye view of Shankland recently as he notched a hat-trick against them in a 4-3 loss at Tynecastle last October and then he thumped home a sumptuous header as Steven Naismith's side came to Parkhead and won 2-0 earlier this month. What more proof do they need that Shankland is a proven goalscorer?

READ MORE: Is Shankland on Celtic's transfer radar?- video debate

There is a tendency for clubs like Celtic and Rangers to thumb their nose and snub players who are consistently scoring goals in the Scottish Premiership for so-called lesser clubs to pursue more 'exotic' targets. Yet, ironically, the answer to Celtic's striking conundrum lies right under their nose.

Rodgers craves quality. He craves the finished article. Miovski and Shankland are the finished article as far as banging in goals in the Scottish Premiership is concerned. Miovski and Shankland can both deliver at that level.

They say you reap what you sow in this world. That being the case then Celtic's recruitment team ought to be held accountable for a gross dereliction of duty for neglecting the striking department in the summer when they knew the Asian Cup was on the horizon.

That very same recruitment team now has the January window to restore their reputations and atone for their errors. Celtic have a choice to make next month. They cannot afford to get this signing wrong.

Miovski or Shankland? It is a straight shootout between the two strikers to see who finds themselves in Glasgow's east end. The destination of this season's Scottish Premiership title could very well depend upon it. Glasgow's big two both sense the glittering prize is there for the taking. It could all hinge on it.

That's why January will be a serious test of Celtic's ambition. This is certainly no time for the club to gamble on their chances of making it three-in-a-row or jeopardise their place at the top table in the new-look Champions League format.

There are 60 million reasons as to why that is.