Josip Juranovic reveals his new important behind-the-scenes role at Celtic Park

By Lewis Laird

October 19, 2022

Celtic defender Josip Juranovic has revealed that as a full-back, he has played a role in helping summer addition Alexandro Bernabei settle into life at Parkhead.

The Croatian arrived at Parkhead last summer as part of Ange Postecoglou’s recruitment overhaul and rebuild at the club.

Juranovic was quickly thrown into the starting line-up as the Celtic boss looked to continue to implement his free-flowing, attacking system as the season went on.

And the 27-year-old proved to be a key cog in Postecoglou’s squad, with the former Socceroos boss deploying him at both right and left back, whilst Greg Taylor was out injured.

So, Juranovic is now well aware of what it takes to play for Celtic under Postecoglou, but also the demands and difficulties that come with settling into life at Parkhead.

During the summer transfer window, the Celtic boss brought in the addition of left-back Alexandro Bernabei, which means that Juranovic will no longer have to play in the more unnatural full-back role.

However, it also means another defender who has spent the summer settling in at Paradise and learning the system’s ins and outs.

Juranovic has recently revealed that he has taken it upon himself to try and help Bernabei settle in quicker after the left-backs appearances stepped up in recent weeks.

He said [The Herald]: “I’m trying to give him advice about settling in and our style of play, but he doesn’t know English very well but will learn.

“But you can see that he’s played a few games and is now doing very well. He made an assist on Saturday, and that’s the most important thing. 

“He’s doing well away from the pitch also. He’s a great person, and I know that we will see more good stuff from him this season. 

“It’s difficult [to play as a full-back with Celtic] because it’s all about going inside and outside, talking with our number six. 

“But it’s because of those demands that we are at Celtic. We want to achieve everything, and we will do that.

“You could see on Saturday that we have real depth in the squad. A lot of players have been waiting for their opportunity, and I think we have shown that whoever is playing, we can damage the other team. That’s the most important thing. 

“No matter what changes the manager makes, we are all very comfortable playing with each other. Now we all know what each player is doing. We are just like a really big family here. 

“We know what the wingers will do, we know that the full-backs will do. So we know our plan, we listen to the coach, and we carry it out.”

Brilliant Celtic Park dressing room showcased as Ange Postecoglou’s squad welcome new summer additions.

Last season, it was clear to see the brilliant atmosphere Ange Postecoglou had built within his Celtic squad, and that has continued this season with the Bhoys’ new summer additions being welcomed warmly.

Although players such as Bernabei might have taken some time to get up to speed, we are now seeing the benefits of giving our new signings time to learn the system.

And you would imagine the help from more senior and experienced members of the squad would have been a huge help.

As one of the bigger characters in the squad, I am sure Bernabei has already learned so much from a player of Juranovic’s quality.

So, hopefully, we can continue to see the left-back progress and earn more minutes after putting the work in on the training ground.

In other news, Ange Postecoglou delivers ‘more to come’ vow for improving Celtic summer additions.