Ahead of a huge game against Ross County up in Dingwall tonight, Ange Postecoglou has been speaking about his aspirations regarding the January transfer window and what he said will be music to the ears of Celtic fans.
The Celtic manager clearly states that he is pushing those at the club who handle potential player transfers to get the new recruits in as soon as possible. Under Peter Lawwell i have never known a club who took longer to wrap up deals, often to the frustration of both the fans and the manager. Penny-pinching cost us signing players such as John McGinn and Ivan Toney in the past, players who almost certainly would have went on to become huge stars at the club.
When asked if there was a possibility that deals could be completed before the meeting with theRangers at the turn of the year, Postecoglou said as reported by Scottish Sun:
“It’s probably more idealistic than realistic. But if you shoot for the stars, they say you land on the moon. So I’m pushing to get them in as early as possible in the window. To get them before 2 January might be a stretch, but I do want them as soon as I can.
“That period before we restart could be crucial in integrating any new players we have, rather than have what happened in the summer window where the league had started while we were still signing players. I don’t want to be in that situation.”
Our manager hits the nail on the head here. As a club we have a history of not concluding deals until the very last moment of the transfer window and it’s something we really need to rectify.
Obviously transfer business can often be a case of cat and mouse where the selling club wants to hang tight for as long as possible in the hope that another club becomes involved leading to a bidding war on the player, but on the other hand if you come in early with a reasonable package and refuse to get involved in a game of brinkmanship then transfers could be sorted one way or another early on.
It’s been rumoured that we are interested in at least three players from the J-League, Yokohama F Marinos striker Maeda, 24, along with Kawasaki Frontale ace Hatate, 24, and Gamba Osaka midfielder Ideguchi, 25. It’s been previously mentioned that Japanese clubs aren’t difficult to deal with and Ange Postecoglou will know this more than most, so if true then there really is no reason why these players transfers can’t be concluded swiftly.
The Celtic manager, who refused to confirm the identity of his signing targets, fears there could be a delay to his plans. He added:
“The situation with our transfers is that it is constant and we are working through them. Nothing is done yet. As I’ve always said, we live in unusual times when things aren’t straight-forward. There are delays.
“We haven’t concluded any deals yet, but we are working really hard to have deals in place early in the window, so the ones we want to join can do so early in the piece. We’re working through things. Nothing has been confirmed or done. If I said a deal had been done, I could be proved a liar in a day’s time because something happened.”
If you look closely at what Ange is saying he isn’t giving too much away but you get the feeling that he thinks some deals are extremely close, although he obviously doesn’t want to be made to look foolish by outright saying it then for the deal to collapse at the last minute. I think Ange will be pushing to get as many of his targets signed up before the team heads off for the winter break training camp. This would be the perfect situation to let the new recruits get integrated into the squad, get to know their teammates and get to grips with Ange’s footballing philosophy.
I think Ange has proven already that he has an eye for a player. If you look at the likes of Kyogo and Jota, he brought in these players without breaking the bank and they have proven their weight in gold. Hopefully the club acknowledges this and fully backs the Greek-Aussie early in this transfer window. If he leads us to the league title this season and all the riches that comes with automatic Champions League qualification whatever money spent in this window will be worth every penny.
Conall McGinty
If you’re not heading up to Dingwall then the game is available on Ross Couty TV PPV for £15, and you can order HERE.
Advice from @RossCounty for this evening, face masks are mandatory when moving around any internal part of the stadium.
New barcoded tickets will be in use, please have your ticket ready for inspection and please arrive in good time for KO, gates open 18:15 pic.twitter.com/KgmQUlcNGQ
— Celtic FC SLO (@CelticFCSLO) December 15, 2021
Why do people keep referring to Ang as the Greek/Aussie manager, no other manager is referred to this way other than Slippy the scouse why is this???