Chris Sutton makes demand of the Celtic board

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Chris Sutton wants the Celtic board to “get the cheque book out” and back Ange Postecoglou in the January transfer window.

He’s also demanded the club do what is necessary to secure Jota on a permanent deal, with Celtic holding an option to buy on his season-long loan from Benfica.

Sutton is a fan of what he’s seeing Postecoglou’s acquisitions in the transfer market and now feels he can be fully trusted with a bumper budget when negotiations re-open in a number of positions.

Writing in his Daily Record column this weekend, he said: “Ange Postecoglou has asked fans to put their faith in him, to believe in his methods and trust his judgement. I get the sense most supporters are doing just that.

“The Celtic board need to trust him as well – and that means backing him when January comes and beyond. It also means getting ready to get the cheque book out next summer to secure Jota on a permanent deal.

“I don’t know the ins and outs of his contract situation at Benfica but if it’s right about Celtic having first dibs on the winger for £6.5million, then they should be ring fencing the dosh right now. Jota is only in the door five minutes but we’ve already seen enough to suggest he is more than decent and you suspect there is even more to come.

“Six and a half million is a lot of money to Celtic. It’s not a sum they’ve stumped up too often over the years. But I would spin it around – could they afford not to splash that kind of dosh on a player who will have had a season under his belt at Parkhead.”

Jota is certainly making his presence felt in the team right now, chipping in with goals, assists and providing general attacking threat. It would be a very popular decision if he could be brought to the club on a permanent basis. The opportunity for a high resale is also possible, so Celtic shouldn’t worry too much about the financials involved.

Undoubtedly Celtic need to strengthen the squad again in January too. We need a quality defensive midfielder in the door at the very least, looking at the options available right now. A left-back option could be needed too.

Even adding another attacker to the mix could be possible, with rumours about a move for Daizen Maeda emerging ahead of the window.

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