Amongst the post-match thoughts of the Celtic manager yesterday, one item of interest went slightly unnoticed in regards to recruitment plans whilst he was chewing the fat with the media . That is namely, that Ange is looking to bring in two more players within a seven day timescale as he put it to the interviewer.
After the 2-2 draw with Jon Dahl Tommason’s Championship side, Blackburn Rovers, Ange spoke of not just wanting to add to the squad once again or make it bigger just for the sake of it. Rather, he is more interested in ensuring the strength in depth quality-wise at least is preserved to a high enough standard.
Speaking about recruitment after the match, the Celtic manager, as reported by Scottish Sun, said: “We’re definitely going to add a couple of players. We’re working on that but would expect to do that in the next seven days. We had to be patient and that was much more important than rushing. I’m confident we’re close to the end point in bringing in a couple which will help.”
Moreover, without the injured duo of Reo Hatate and Swede Carl Starfelt, it was noticeable when we made a raft of changes at half-time which invariably led to us losing that total control over the ebb and flow of the fixture. He added: “The squad is looking really good but on days like today we want to make sure we don’t lose our effectiveness when a couple are missing.
“We had a pretty hectic schedule last year. The reality is we’ll play close to 60 games. Champions League on a weekly basis will add stress to the squad which is why I’m keen to bring in a couple more, to make sure we’re strong and robust.”
So, there you have it – straight from the horses mouth. We should have that much sought after and coveted defensive midfielder within our ranks come this time next week, with hopefully a central defender too. The glaring deficiencies in our squad yesterday was the severe lack of defensive cover at times. There is zero issues in our attacking play, however, if we wish to compete at Champions League level then we must procure a strong sitting midfielder to shield the defence and also another quality centre-half for depth.
If we manage to add these things to the already talented squad – combined with the return of Hatate and Starfelt – we should be able to make a fist of it come the group stages kicking-off.
Paul Gillespie
