Former Hearts midfielder Michael Stewart has suggested that Celtic will be desperately trying to entice Fraser Forster back to the club in January.

The Hoops have shipped a staggering number of goals this season already by their standards and have, as yet, been unable to pick between their two goalkeepers.

Scott Bain has played, Vasilis Barkas has been involved, but it was the latter yesterday evening who was criticised for sloppy reactions to concede some poor goals in the 4-2 defeat to Milan.

Forster, who has proven himself to be a top player for Celts in recent seasons, remains on the Southampton bench having not featured this term under Ralph Hasenhuttl. And Stewart believes Neil Lennon could do a lot worse than target the stopper again - despite the Englishman rejecting a loan move earlier this summer.

"Wouldn’t surprise me if Celtic are already trying desperately to get Forster back on some sort of deal," Stewart said on social media. "Goalkeeping position is desperate just now. While the defence simply cannot continue to making the mistakes they are if they’ve any hope of resurrecting their season.

"It takes a long time and lots of hard work to develop and put the fear factor in opponents. Celtic have lost that now and it’s not going to be a quick fix to get it back."