Securing Cameron Carter Vickers on a permanent contract a January priority for Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou revealed that he wouldn’t have signed Cameron Carter Vickers on loan from Spurs for a season if he didn’t think he’d be making the move a permanent one in due course. And the Celtic manager also explained that time was against him in making the signing on the last day of the truster window with Celtic having to wait for the late sales of Christie and Edouard to go through before they were in a position to sign the big defender from Tottenham on what turned out to be a season long loan deal.

No-one would argue that CCV has been anything other than a huge success in a green and white jersey and Postecoglou is now looking to make the move permanent with a £6million deal that could actually happen in the winter transfer window.

Ange was asked if he wanted to keep CCV at Celtic: “Absolutely. I wouldn’t have brought him in if I thought it was a short-term thing. All the players we have brought into the club we have done so with some thought of building a team around them,” Ange said, as reported by Scottish Sun. “Building a team means more than just 12 months. But a lot of that depends on the player himself. Those discussions will happen over the next few months.

“People will be well aware our game schedule has meant the focus has been on performances, playing well and getting the job done. The intimate details of people’s contracts or clauses, all those things need agreement from two or three parties, and that’s why we take our time.”

Explaining why the initial deal ended up as a loan rather than a permanent transfer the Celtic manager explained just how close he came to making the latter happen in the summer. “Yes, it was close because there were a few moving parts. There were some players we needed to move on at the time.

“People forget that Odsonne Edouard and Ryan Christie didn’t leave until late on. Thankfully for us, we were able to get Cameron over the line at the last minute. It was a bit of a leap of faith for him, as he didn’t have much time to think about it. But I’m sure he’d say now it has been a great move for him, and it’s been a great move for the club.

“The logical thing for all parties was to do a loan or we wouldn’t have got the deal done. January gives us an opportunity to look at our squad again. Part of that discussion will be around players we have on loan and seeing what decisions we want to make on them.”

TWICE AS GOOD

Thanks to everyone who ordered Harry Hood – Twice as Good for Christmas presents. If you got an Ange jumper instead then why not order this brilliant book by Matt Corr, or indeed David Potter’s biography of another Celtic legend Alec McNair – born on this day incidentally – from Celtic Star Books or from the official Celtic stores?