ANGE POSTECOGLOU is planning on bringing in another two new players at least to Celtic before the tansfer deadline at the end of the month.
The new Hoops boss has spent in the region of £13.6million in bringing in Liel Abada, Carl Starfelt, Kyogo Furuhashi, Joe Hart and James McCarthy in recent weeks.
Sheffield Wednesday double-act Osaze Urhoghide and Liam Shaw also arrived in the summer at the end of their contracts with the third-tier Yorkshire club.
Postecoglou is well aware Odsonne Edouard, a £20million target for Southampton and Brighton, and Ryan Christie, who is out of contract in January, could leave this month, but he is concentrating on bring in new faces.
Neil Lennon’s successor said: “We are moving things along. We still need to bring some in to help with our depth.
“We have a lot of games and are leaning on the same players.
“I am hopeful in the next week or so that we will bring in a couple more, at least.”
Edouard and Christie were left out at the start of the 4-2 Europa League first leg qualifying win over Jablonec on Thursday, but both are in contention for this afternoon’s visit of Dundee.
Asked about the players’ situations, Postecogolou answered: “Nothing has really changed for me. Everyone knows that Odsonne is in the last year of his deal and there is plenty of talk that he will move in this window.
“I just treat it all as something that is happening in the background. I prepare the squad for the games and Odsonne has played in most of them.
“He had a little knock after Midtjylland and didn’t train every day so I put him on the bench in midweek. But while he’s here, if he’s playing well and training well, I will select him.
“If something changes over the course of the next few weeks then we are ready for it.
“Odsonne is available at the moment. Will I need to speak to him? No. I have made a decision that what’s more important to me is the players I know are going to stay.
“If players want to go, I am not going to try to convince them to stay.
“They are in a much better place to decide where their careers are going and what’s the best place for them.
“What’s important to me is how they train, play and present themselves. That’s all I focus on.”
On Christie’s position, Postecoglou, speaking to the Scotland on Sunday, added: “Nothing has changed. Ryan is playing well and training well and is pretty good at putting the distractions to one side. If something changes in the next few weeks we will deal with it.
“Right now, Ryan is contributing to what we are doing and that’s important for us. Ryan has been really enthusiastic since I have been here. He has been really energetic and he always has a smile on his face. That’s all I can ask for.
“I can’t dictate his future, but in terms of what he’s doing for me, I couldn’t be happier with him.”
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