“I’m really happy. We’ve been working on those two for a little while now and I was keen to get them in for a couple of reasons. One is that I think they’re both quality players and quality people, and secondly, I knew that they wouldn’t have to do any quarantine or anything. So, we’re very pleased to get both of them into the club.” The words of Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou, speaking to the mainstream media yesterday via zoom from the club’s base in the Czech Republic ahead of this afternoon’s Europa League qualifier against FK Jablonec.
ANGE ON JOE HART
“In terms of Thursday, we’ll have a look at it. Again, he’s literally only met the team last evening. He has been training, though, and he’s presented in good condition. He’ll have his first training session with the team this afternoon.
“I’ll make a decision after that but I wouldn’t have brought him in if I didn’t think he could contribute to the team. With Scotty and Barky in particular, I just think they had a really tough year, and having someone like Joe around will help them as well, because he’s a player who’s played at the highest level for a long time.
“He’s experienced the ups and downs of football and I think having an experienced player like him around will also assist those two.
“I’ll see how Joe feels. He’s been training well with his club and he was also really keen to come in straight away. I gave him a little bit of an option that he could stay back in Glasgow. But Joe made it pretty clear he wanted to come across and join in training immediately.
“I believe I have an exceptional player and an exceptional person. He was really excited about the prospect of signing for Celtic, which is important to me. He wants to prove to people he can still play at the highest level.
ANGE ON BARKAS AND BAIN
“Scott Bain and Vasilis Barkas, in particular, I just think they had a really tough year last year. Having someone like Joe around will help them as well, because he’s a player who’s played at the highest level for a long time.
“I’ve been at pains to say we need to bring players in, and we’ve been working hard to do that. It’s a real bonus with these two guys. They are both experienced, accomplished players who have played at the highest level for a long time.”
ANGE ON JAMES McCARTHY
“James was released by Crystal Palace at the end of last season, and he has been training on his own. We’re going to assess him back in Glasgow and he’ll be working with our staff at Lennoxtown.
“With James, we’ll just have to assess him. The difference with James is obviously he wasn’t training at a club, he was training on his own, whereas Joe was with Tottenham, so we made a decision to leave him back in Glasgow.
“He’ll have a session today and tomorrow with our staff there and we’ll have a look at him on Saturday. I know he’s been working hard on his own and he’s keen to get started but we’ve just got to be mindful with that’s he’s not done any team training. So we’ll probably make a decision on him post-weekend in terms of his availability.”
ANGE ON ADDITIONAL SIGNINGS
“We are still light in certain areas of the park. While it feels like an eternity, the club is working hard to try and get things over the line. It certainly doesn’t stop with the last two. My sole focus at the moment is getting the right squad together to challenge this year.
“There are different areas of the park that we still need some strengthening. That’s in depth as well as in quality, so the club are still working really hard.”
Watch the full mainstream media conference with the Celtic manager below…
