John Barnes has urged Celtic to become inspired by Hearts after claiming that their squad is no better than the league leaders.
Hearts are seven points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership and don’t seem to be showing any signs of repeating the same nosedive suffered by Aberdeen last season.
Celtic have always been known for attracting top talent and trying to compete with various European clubs to land in-demand players.
However, with the Jambos leading the way, the former Hoops manager has suggested that they should follow their transfer model.
John Barnes tells Celtic to rethink transfer policy
Summer recruitment was a big talking point for Celtic, after many felt the club had left themselves short-changed.
Some signings have failed to hit the ground running, while Hearts have had plenty of success.
As the transfer window becomes harder to navigate, Barnes has told the Hoops to look at the lower tiers to find more talent.
Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy podcast, he said: “I remember when, even Celtic, when Martin O’Neill went and they had like Henrik Larsson and then they bought, you know, Chris Sutton and they were buying players from England who were top English players, and Rangers obviously had Michael Mols and Brian Laudrup and these players, who are one of the best in Europe, they can’t do that anymore.
“So what they need to do is understand how they have to shop in the second tier, which means that you have to have an idea as to who you can get in the second tier, which is what Brighton have done, and though you can get them in the second tier and make them great and sell them for money, the Hearts have done that.
“So Celtic haven’t got better players than Hearts, which in the old days they did, and because they haven’t had that model of buying those players who you know are good players for maybe five and six million and maybe can sell them for more money.”
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