You don’t envy Martin O’Neill at the moment.
He has been thrown in to work with an out-of-form squad for the second time this season, and this time, Celtic are without a Head of Football Operations, Head of Scouting or Head of Recruitment.
As a result, O’Neill is fronting the January transfer window effort, alongside Shaun Maloney.
It’s far from ideal – but on the pitch, things look alright, Two wins and two clean sheets from two represents a return to the stability that Celtic enjoyed in O’Neill’s first interim spell.
But at his media conference, the main topic remains transfer business.
The player that has impressed the most since Martin O’Neill’s return is…
Martin O’Neill on Kieron Bowie to Celtic links
Celtic have been linked with a daft number of strikers at this point, but some are more plausible rumours than others.
Franko Kovacevic’s name emerged this week, and O’Neill didn’t rule him out as an option. But last weekend, Celtic made an enquiry for Kieron Bowie.
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Whether the Hoops will pursue a move for Bowie remains to be seen, but at O’Neill’s press conference on Friday, he was asked about the Hibs striker whether he would consider the Scottish market.
He gave a straight answer: “Yeah, there’s definitely players in the Scottish market that could play on our team.”
Asked if he would consider more than one striker in January, the interim boss said: “I wouldn’t disagree, absolutely.
“I wouldn’t disagree with that at all. Because, particularly if you’re able to get somebody of decent quality on loan, then at least it’s to the end of the season, it’s just that focus to them. No, I wouldn’t be against that.”
Lastly, he was what exactly he was looking for, in terms of profile and positions.
O’Neill said: “Somebody who can maybe find the net for us. And if not, then somebody maybe who could hold it up and bring other people into the game. Daizen does really well.
“He got caught once, but nearly scored. And then he played one out, which came towards me. I think he thought I was playing! But, yeah, so something like that there is what I need.
“Of course [I’d consider all positions], yeah. I mean, there’s very little respite for us in terms of games. And if we did qualify for the final stages of the Europa League, I know it’s a knockout after that, then that would be difficult in itself.
“But if you did that, then you’re trying to focus on the league all the time. Then you might have some midweek games again.
“Almost numerically, you’d think that you’d need some people in. But I could do that anyway. You could just get the numbers up.
“It’s trying to get a bit of quality. If you can get as good as you’ve got, or better, that’s great.”
Kieron Bowie to Celtic… yes or no?
Players on the Scottish market Celtic could consider
As well as Bowie, Celtic are also interested in Hibs’ Josh Mulligan.
The midfielder has been compared to John McGinn and has been a revelation since moving to Easter Road from Dundee in the summer. He also reportedly has interest from the Premier League.
Celtic have also plotted a move for David Watson, but this one doesn’t seem to have materialised since the window opened.
This week, Paul Slane touted Celtic to sign Claudio Braga, but that one looks… less than likely at this current moment, for obvious reasons.
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