Ange Postecoglou relishing Champions League impact on Celtic summer recruitment

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Ange Postecoglou has been talking up the positive impact automatic Champions League qualification will have on Celtic this summer.

The Bhoys’ stunning Scottish Premiership title win means that the team go right into next season’s group stage.

It’ll be the first time Celtic haven’t played European qualifiers since 2008.

For Postecoglou, it could be crucial in creating a summer schedule of training and recruitment that helps take the Bhoys to the next level.

Speaking to Sky Sports over the weekend, he said of the Champions League aspect to the title win: “It is brilliant. here were plenty of motivations to win the title this year, not least that we obviously didn’t win it last year. Knowing potentially that the extra carrot was there was a massive motivator.

“I felt it was a great way for us to accelerate our growth as a football club with us being involved at that level and getting exposed to that level: our players, our team, our football club, that is the level we want to be at every year.

“We all know the qualifying process is not straightforward. It affects your pre-season, it affects the time off players have, there are all these ramifications. It affects your recruiting because you just don’t know, are you recruiting for the Champions League or are you not?

“So all those kinds of things, we can now work with a lot more certainty this off-season and give the players a break, have a really good pre-season and identify the players we want knowing we are going to be playing in the Champions League. It is going to be exciting. Celtic Park, Champions League, brilliant.”

As appreciated as this Celtic group are, supporters will definitely want to see significant movement in the transfer market.

With Mark Lawwell in place and Postecoglou’s eye available, this could be another fine summer on the player recruitment front.

If we can bring in perhaps five or six quality first-team players into this group then the squad will be in incredible shape ahead of the new season.

I believe we have the resources to do that. We now also have the time and space to do it too, as Postecoglou says.

Bring on an exciting summer!

In other news, Tom Rogic’s last message to the Celtic support before departure.