Celtic are already seeing the benefits of getting January business complete early in the window after Alistair Johnston’s impressive display yesterday.
The 24-year-old was thrust straight into the action in the Glasgow Derby on Monday afternoon, just a month on after his arrival from Montreal Impact.
Of course, Johnston isn’t the only piece of business the Hoops have conducted before the window has even opened, with Postecoglou having also signed Yuki Kobayashi and Tomoki Iwata.
Whilst the latter of the three players is still to arrive in Scotland, both Johnston and Kobayashi are now well acclimatised to life at Parkhead.
Although the pairing were only available for selection starting from the 1st of January, they have been training amongst their new Celtic teammates since late November.
So, despite being thrown into the Celtic squad for yesterday’s game at Ibrox, both players were very much ready to go after over a month in Glasgow.
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Ultimately, it just goes to show the advantages that the Bhoys can earn by bringing new signings to the club as early as possible.
And that has been on display for Ange Postecoglou across the last three transfer windows, with the trend starting in last year’s January market as the signings of Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Yosuke Ideguchi were all complete before 2021 was out.
So it is clear to the Celtic hierarchy that this is a strategy that is very much working in our favour, and we should continue to keep it in place going forward.
Johnston’s Ibrox performance provides perfect example of why Celtic should maintain January transfer strategy.
In years gone by, transfer windows have become huge frustrations to Celtic supporters at times, with the club choosing to take their time over business.
However, since the arrival of Ange Postecoglou, we have seen almost a complete u-turn and now the club aims to get several pieces of business over the line before the window is even open.
The performance of Alistair Johnston at Ibrox was the perfect example of why we should be looking to maintain this transfer strategy after the Canadian’s solid showing.
The right-back was given almost a short pre-season over the month of December, which meant he was ready to go from the off in 2023.
The same can be said for Yuki Kobayashi too, with the Japanese defender being named amongst the Celtic substitutes at Ibrox and being ready to come into the fold.
So, Ange Postecoglou has perfectly showcased why getting several pieces of business done as early as possible is such a positive move.
As mentioned, it is certainly a strategy that the club’s hierarchy and recruitment team should look to maintain, whether that be in the summer or winter window.
Giving players and the coaching staff as much tie as possible to work alongside one another will be crucial to our success, and the Celtic manager has showcased exactly why that is the case.
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