Ange Postecoglou aims for new Celtic playmaker in January transfer window

By Euan Davidson

October 30, 2021

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has plans for the January transfer window; chiefly, to bring in another playmaker.

The Bhoys have relied heavily upon David Turnbull and Tom Rogic to provide attacking thrust in midfield. With both Ryan Christie and Olivier Ntcham leaving for England in the summer, there aren’t too many options for the Celtic manager.

Tom Rogic’s injury has brought that lack of options back into focus. While there are some makeshift choices Postecoglou could make, it sounds as if the former Australia manager is keen to invest in the January transfer window.

Celtic do have some number 10s in the development stages of their career. Barry Coffey can play there, and is on loan with Cork City. Similarly, Luca Connell is away with Queen’s Park, and both players are coming along well.

However, it seems immediate first-team investment is what’s needed for Postecoglou’s side.

Postecoglou said [Sun]:

“It’s a blow to lose Tommy as he’s been outstanding but short-term, I think we can find solutions.

“Callum McGregor has played played there before, Jota has the capabilities and we have a couple more options.

“Long-term, I think it’s an area of the park where we probably need reinforcements and hopefully we can do that in January.”

Ange Postecoglou determined to add to Celtic ranks in January transfer window

In truth, Postecoglou will probably still be frustrated at the Ryan Christie situation. As a player, he looked absolutely perfect for what the Celtic manager wanted to do.

His hat-trick of assists against Dundee were sublime, and he’s been extremely impressive at Bournemouth. Sadly, Celtic bungled that contract situation and he was allowed to leave for peanuts, despite being a Scotland international.

While this is a much stronger squad than we could’ve realistically hoped for, there are still holes. Beyond Rogic and Turnbull, the options in midfield are quite sparse.

From a creative perspective at least; Soro, Bitton and McCarthy are all decent defensive midfielders, but offer little going forward.

It would be nice if one of Celtic’s youngsters was brought into the first-team fold. However, Postecoglou worked with the likes of Coffey and Connell in pre-season. Clearly, they were still too raw to make an impact in the Celtic match-day squad.

Investment will be needed, then. For sure, Celtic will be linked with numerous names from now until the end of January.

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