Celtic manager Neil Lennon doesn’t believe the club need to be competing in the Champions League group stages to make the improvements he wants in his playing squad, The Scottish Sun reports.
The manager was asked about a number of transfer rumours at yesterday’s press conference and seemed to be annoyed by journalists’ focus on putting individual names to him prior to tonight’s game against Ferencvaros.
However, he did give a bit of insight into the current recruitment situation at Celtic Park.
It’s tempting to think the riches of the Champions League are needed when it comes to bringing in players.
Lennon is adamant that it’s not a requirement, though does concede it can help.
As quoted by The Scottish Sun, he said: “No, we don’t need to get it. If we get into the Champions League then it puts us in an even stronger position to attract players and have more finances available. But financially we are in a decent, healthy position at the minute.
“We have our eye on a few potential signings, but we are nowhere near fulfilling any of those. I am happy with the squad, but I would like to make a couple more additions, as I’ve said over the past few weeks.
“A lot of these things can be protracted and we may look at it later on in the window when we might be able to get better value for money for players as well.”
There’s a lot riding on tonight’s qualifier of course.
The Champions League is important to the club for all sorts of reasons, not just recruitment.
However, it is heartening to hear the club have a few irons in the fire on the transfer front despite no guarantee of our European level this season.
Having already spent significant money on Vasilis Barkas and Albian Ajeti, the club appear to be intent on bringing in more quality that can directly improve match squads.
That kind of ambition should please anxious fans who want Celtic to push the boat out in a potential ‘ten-in-a-row’ season.
I have no issue with the way the transfer window is panning out so far.
In other news, Mohamed Elyounoussi has explained the personal reason behind his recent goal celebration gestures.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
