ANGE POSTECOGLOU has revealed he has ALREADY identified summer signing targets.
The Celtic boss was involved in a frantic first window when he joined the Hoops in June 2021 with the squad in dire and urgent need of a thorough revamp.
Players such as Odsonne Edouard, Kristoffer Ajer and Ryan Christie were heading for the exit while a posse of loan signings, Shane Duffy and Mohamed Elyounoussi among them, also returned to their parent clubs.
BY THE RIGHT…Liel Abada was one of Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic recruits in July 2021.
Liel Abada, Carl Starfelt and Kyogo Furuhashi were among the first to arrive and the wheeling and dealing continued in the January market when Matt O’Riley and the J-League trio of Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Yosuke Ideguchi were introduced to the player pool.
The summer saw the permanent signings of Filipe Jota, £6.5million from Benfica, and Cameron Carter-Vickers, £6million from Spurs, following their impressive temporary season-long deals.
Aaron Mooy, Sead Haksabanovic and Alexandro Bernabei were among the other recruits while January saw four new Bhoys ushered in with Alistair Johnston, Oh Hyeon-gyu and Japanese duo Tomoki Iwata and Yuki Kobayashi all adding the muscle available to the hard-working gaffer.
There is just no stopping Postecoglou in his relentless pursuit of a squad equipped for the challenges at home and abroad.
He admitted: “We are always trying to improve and, as you said, the results have been outstanding. As importantly, so have the performances. We are really strong and are getting stronger
“That is always our focus. We want to continue that until the end of the year and be strong. We are constantly looking at how we can be stronger for next year.
JANUARY RECRUIT…Alistair Johnston is on the ball as he prepares to pick up his first Celtic winner’s medal at Hampden last week – after only 10 first-team games.
“I think if you look at every window since I have been here, we have strengthened and we are already doing work to make sure we come out of the next window even stronger than when we enter it.
“That has got to be our ambition every time we enter this process.”
Postecoglou, speaking to the Daily Record, added: “Getting them in early has worked well for us.
“It has allowed players to come in and settle and contribute straight away and we will continue to do that.
”Since the break we have guys who, whether they are starting or not, are making big impacts on games. We are going to need that because we have three games in a week coming up, starting today with St Mirren and then Hearts back to back.
“A strong squad will help us navigate that and make sure our performance stays at a high level.”
* DON’T miss the unbeatable match report and best action images from St Mirren v Celtic this afternoon – only in your champion CQN.
