ANGE POSTECOGLOU can expect at least £20million in transfer cash as he continues to strengthen his Celtic squad.
That’s the view of former Hoops goal hero John Hartson who insists the Greek-Australian will be allowed to carry on spending in the summer as he adds quality to his player pool.
The Parkhead club are on the brink of securing a £40million Champions League jackpot if, of course, they seal their tenth title in 11 years as they prepare for the visit of Hearts on Saturday.
LET’S HEAR IT FOR ANGE…Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou has worked wonders in the transfer market.
Postecoglou has guided the team to a six-point advantage at the Premiership pinnacle with only three games to play. A victory over the Tynecastle team at the weekend will all but make certain of a remarkable championship success.
Impressive loanees Filipe Jota, rated in the £6.5million bracket by Benfica, and Cameron Carter-Vickers, valued at £6million by Spurs, are two players already on the manager’s shopping list.
His transfer war chest will have been further boosted by £1.5million after an agreement was triggered in Ryan Christie’s transfer in August with Bournemouth beating Nottingham Forest 1-0 last night to cement their promotion back to the English top flight.
Other money could come in for multi-million misfits Vasilis Barkas, Albian Ajeti and Boli Bolingoli, who cost ex-boss Neil Lennon a total of £12.5million in transfer fees, and who are likely to be moved on in the summer.
ON THE RUN…Filipe Jota is a wanted man at Celtic.
The club have appointed Mark Lawwell, son of ex-chief executive Peter, as the club’s new head of first-team scouting and recruitment to assist Postecoglou’s planning, as CQN reported.
Looking forward to an exciting new campaign, Hartson said: “I think Ange holds all the cards now. They’ve got to back him. For him to take Celtic further in Europe.
“They’ve got Champions League, but can they push on and make the knock-out stages? They’re going straight into the group stages, can they get through?
“It will be very, very difficult, but to do that, they will need the quality of player.
“So, when you think of that and Ange goes and says I want this and I want that, then you have to think Celtic will back him. They’re quite a wealthy club, anyway.
“Absolutely they will back him now Ange because he has already shown that his signings have done very well.”
Hartson, speaking to the Daily Record, continued: “He has looked at some of the European performances this season, went out of the Champions League, went out of the Europa League into the Conference League, went out of that.
IN CONTROL…Cameron Carter-Vickers is on the ball as he patrols the defence.
“That’s the one thing that top managers want to do, they want to go and achieve things at the very highest level, not rest on the fact that he’s only been here a year and won a Double.
“He’ll want to improve Celtic at the highest level.”
Asked if a sum such as £20million might be made available, Hartson added: “Yeah, he will get that. He will need that to get Jota and Carter-Vickers over the line if they are to get both of them.
”After last season, it was important that Ange got the recruitment right for the challenge ahead.
“A year ago none of us had heard of Jota, or Liel Abada, or others. Let’s get it right. None of us had heard of Kyogo, or Hatate or Maeda.
“The Champions League releases funds for a top-class manager like Ange who has proved in his first season he’s somebody they really trust and believe in.”
