John Hartson reckons Celtic “needs more cover and needs to be strengthened”…
John Hartson was a pundit on Celtic TV yesterday afternoon and the big man outlined his thoughts on what he reckons Ange Postecoglou should be looking to do in the January transfer window with the former Celtic legend insisting that the Australian boss should be looking at adding four of five new signings to put Celtic in the right place to challenge for the Cinch Premiership title this season.
“I think a striker and an attacking midfield player,” Hartson told Celtic TV after the 1-0 win over Motherwell. “We’ve got Jullien to come back in obviously and Welsh who didn’t start today. But I just think good players.
“Celtic will have recruitment, they’ll be talking to agents about certain players. Celtic just want good players thrown at them, good deals. Celtic will have a budget to spend.
“They need another three, four, five players, just to bolster the squad. We’ve seen in recent games he’s utilised the squad really well, Real Betis there was 11 changes.
“Today we didn’t have a centre forward on the pitch, a recognised one. So the squad and the group needs more cover and needs to be strengthened.”
So @hochi_football are meant to be one of the more reliable sources over in Japan & it looks like we're stepping closer to our first January signing.
▪️Reo Hatate
▪️24 years old
▪️Central-Midfielder
▪️J League Team of the Season
▪️J League Champion 2021 pic.twitter.com/8CspzSyPeL— Everything Celtic (@aboutceltic) December 12, 2021
With Celtic looking at the three signing from Japan early in the window and perhaps finalising the £6.5m deal with Benfica to secure Jota on a permanent contract that could be it in terms of incoming action, with the rest being focused on Ange moving on players who perhaps want away or are not going to be part of the manager’s plans.
Celtic are close to completing the deal to bring Reo Hatate to the club. It appears that a deal has now been reached with Kawasaki Frontale over the transfer fee for the 24-year-old midfielder (he is NOT a left-back). Sources in Japan state that an agreement in principle for Hatate’s transfer to Celtic has been reached.
Yokohama striker Daizen Maeda and Yosuke Ideguchi from Gamba Osaka are the other two players hotly tipped to be signing For Celtic as soon as the transfer window opens.
Love this! Massive improvement in every department from last season. Miles ahead of where I thought we'd be at this stage. Threadbare squad churning out wins. Kyogo & Jota to return along with exciting reinforcements from the J League in Jan.
Ange. 💚 pic.twitter.com/8mHFFzSKA6
— The TOMMY BURNS Story (@BurnsStory) December 13, 2021
READ THIS…Sandman’s Definitive Ratings – Celtic v Faither’s No![]()
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“He’s not a left back”
Dude . . . Hatate has been playing wingback for most of his career.
Sure … he can play deep midfield too. But that doesnt change the fact that he has been playing wingback for most of his career.
If Mo Salah starts a few games in the second line, that doesnt make him a midfielder.
Good greif!