JOZO SIMUNOVIC is relaxed about the timing of Celtic’s championship winning occasion as he looks back on the season that started with him looking to be heading to Italy and looks like ending with him chasing a Treble with the six in a row Scottish Champions.
The 22-year-old Croatian has insisted that he doesn’t care where Celtic win the title after the international break.
The Hoops could collect their sixth successive championship without kicking a ball a week on Friday when Dundee host Aberdeen. Should the Dens Park side win then Celtic would go to Tynecastle on the Sunday afternoon as champions without having to kick a ball to cross the line.
Simunovic, though, has little preference to which way it transpires.
“When we started this season we wanted to win three trophies and we still have the chance to do that,” he said. “Personally, I would rather we won the league ourselves by beating Hearts, but it doesn’t matter too much. The most important thing is that we win the title. That is all that matters.
“It was what one of the aims was at the start of the season and when we achieve it we will be happy that we have done it.”
The defender was linked with a move to Torino in Italy in the summer, with the transfer falling through on the final minutes of the window. The Serie A side made inroads again during the January transfer window, but Simunovic has insisted that he remains content with life at Celtic.
“I am happy here in Glasgow,” he said. “I want to keep improving as a player, to keep getting better.
“I think this season I feel as though I have made those improvements. I feel that the manager believes in me and I think I have shown that I have something to offer.
“You never know what the future holds in football. But just now this is a club that plays European football every year, we are winning and we are successful. That isn’t something to ignore.
“The games in the Champions League were the highest level I have played in football. I want to experience more of that again next season. That means working hard to keep myself in the team because there is so much competition here for places.
“I want to play, but so does every player. I just have to try and do as the manager asks, train as hard as I can and hopefully I stay in the team.”
