Ange Postecoglou has opened up on the plan to gradually intergate his summer signings into the Celtic set-up before exposing them to too much first team football as had to happen last season out of necessity. Having now completed that arrival stage, Argentinian left-back Alexandro Bernabei looks like becoming a top quality performer wearing the Hoops.
“After what happened last year, people probably expected us just to throw the new signings in straight off the plane again. But this season that was never the plan. There was always going to be a period of time for them to get ready.
“We have had the luxury of being able to ease them in, as opposed to last year when we had to throw guys in.
“I wanted to make sure we bedded them in properly, particularly Alexandro. He is 21, it’s his first time out of Argentina and I didn’t want to throw him in and overwhelm him immediately.
“We see a really bright future for him and we wanted to integrate him slowly. Alexandro has been really good in training. He wants to learn and he has a real appetite for improvement.
“We have been able to be measured, but there was never any doubt in my mind he could make an impact and you will see that from now on. We have also had the luxury of not needing to throw him in, as Greg Taylor has had an outstanding season.
“I wanted to give him time because it is a big change for him, even with the language. If you throw him into a competitive environment it can be a sink or swim scenario. They may thrive immediately, but I didn’t see the need to do that.
“I felt it was better to get Alexandro in gradually and you can see him getting better in training all the time. He has the respect of his team-mates and he has improved with every game. He will continue to play a part for us.
“Alexandro has a couple of assists in his last two games and for us that was part of the attraction with him. He’s really exciting going forward and in the modern game, if you can get defensive players with good attacking outputs, they are great assets.
We certainly saw that when we scouted Alexandro and we knew that he could be good for us going forward. But he’s also improving the defensive side of his game. We’ve worked closely with him and he’s taking it all on board.
“We see how good Alexandro has been in training and we are probably the least surprised by how he played against Hibs,” Ange said.
Celtic’s left-back problems since the departure of Kieran Tierney to Arsenal are well known, although gradually Greg Taylor got to grips with the role and has been one of Celtic’s top perfromers this season, building on an excellent contribution in Ange Postecoglou’s first season in charge.
Now with Taylor and also Bernabei emerging as a top talent, Celtic are well covered in what has always been a difficult postiion to get right.
