SIX Celtic players have been named in the SPFL Premiership Team of the Year – with four brought to the club by Ange Postecoglou.
Josip Juranovic, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Filipe Jota and Kyogo Furuhashi arrived at Parkhead in the summer as Neil Lennon’s long-term successor set about his monumental squad revamp.
Joining the quartet in the elite eleven are captain Callum McGregor and Australian playmaker Tom Rogic, who has been rejuvenated since the June appointment of his former international manager.
A BIG HAND…Cameron Carter-Vickers takes his place in the Premiership Dream Team.
CONGRATS…Celtic double-act Josip Juranovic and Tom Rogic line up in the elite eleven.
It’s an honour for the Hoops six to be named in the top side and Hoops fans will no doubt argue about the inclusion of one or two others.
Joe Hart, the bargain £1million purchase from Spurs at the start of August, must have been in with a shout for the No.1 position, but the gloves have gone to former Hoops fans’ favourite Craig Gordon, who joined Hearts when his contract expired just under two years ago.
Carter-Vickers, on loan from Antonio Conte’s London club, must have been a shoo-in to the central defensive role where he partners Hearts’ John Souttar.
Juranovic, another bargain at only £2.5million from Legia Warsaw in late July, has been one of the most accomplished back-four operators in Scotland’s top flight this season and has played his role in the Hoops taking top spot in the Premiership with a six-point advantage and only four games to go.
THREE CHEERS…Kyogo Furuhashi, Ange Postecoglou and Callum McGregor with the newly-won League Cup.
HAPPY DAZE…Filipe Jota after claiming his eleventh goal of the campaign against Ross County.
Jota scored his eleventh – and Celtic’s 125th – goal of the season in the 2-0 win over Ross County on Sunday and, of course, 17-goal talisman Kyogo got the opener with a slick header.
McGregor has led from the front since taking over as the team’s onfield leader after Scott Brown’s departure for Aberdeen and picked up his first piece of silverware as captain in December when Postecoglou’s men overcame Hibs 2-1 in the Premier Sports League Cup Final in which £4.6million Kyogo claimed two exquisite goals.
Take a bow, lads!
Premiership Dream Team: Gordon; Tavernier, Carter-Vickers, Souttar, Juranovic; Rogic, McGregor, Jota; Charles-Cook, Morelos and Kyogo.