Ange Postecoglou on Celtic's January transfer window

January can be a fraught time for every club in terms of ins and outs.

Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou revealed at the club AGM in November that the Hoops needed to be more "agile" in the transfer market. The Aussie has enjoyed one winter window to date which saw the likes of Reo Hatate, Yosuke Ideguchi, Matt O'Riley and Johnny Kenny join the Bhoys this time last year.

So far in January 2023, the Australian has bolstered his squad by snapping up Canada international Alistair Johnston, Japanese left-sided defender Yuki Kobayashi and his fellow countryman Tomoki Iwata.

Question marks still remain over the futures of Josip Juranovic and Giorgos Giakoumakis in Glasgow's east end. South Korean striker Cho Gue-Sung also remains a legitimate transfer target, with the Parkhead side having tabled a bid in the region of £3 million for his services.

Here is what Postecoglou has had to say so far about the January 2023 transfer window.

On being agile in the transfer market:

"I don't think you can quicken the process but you can accelerate our ability to bridge the gap whether that's financially or on the field by being really aggressive and agile in the transfer market meaning that we've got to take opportunities when they come along or even before they come along and pre-empt things. That can be a little bit unsettling because it may mean we have a high turnover of players but that is not because we want people to leave. If players are here and they are performing then you keep them but if it means players do well and want to move on to greener pastures then we have got to be ready, willing and able to facilitate that and make sure that we replenish that with something that is going to take us further down the road."

READ MORE: The Ange Postecoglou Celtic transfer spending myth

On planning ahead:

"Initially, it was very short term and it is fair to say that 12 months ago my first transfer window was just about getting the team together. We didn't have the numbers, let alone the nucleus of a squad. That was my kind of main focus. From my perspective now I think you have got to look a couple of windows ahead every time and try and project potential outgoings and incomings and areas that you are going to need improvement in and to see how we can be better."

On Champions League exposure and if that altered any of his plans for this window:

"We were always planning to be proactive and agile in this window. That hasn't really changed. For me, there were no surprises about the Champions League experience. I was under no illusions it was going to be tough. It was about exposing our players to it. Our players needed to go through it and we needed to see how they coped with that and how they grow through that. I always knew January was going to be another important window for us. We are still building. We are 18 months into building a football team. If what I am envisaging comes to fruition over the next 12-18 months then we should constantly be in a two or three-year cycle of regenerating the team."

On holding on to Josip Juranovic after the World Cup finals and the constant transfer speculation:

"I don't have any sort of confidence or lack of confidence about any of our players. I can say I’ve heard nothing about Josip Juranovic. Nothing’s happened. Speculation is what it is. What I know is we are in a really good space as a club. We have already strengthened and hopefully, we’ll strengthen further. I’m in no doubt by the end of January we’ll have a stronger squad than we did going into it."

On the future of Giorgos Giakoumakis:

“I just deal with what is in front of me. Giako (Giakoumakis) has been working hard and Kyogo [Furuhashi] is in great form, scoring every week. So he is having to come on and make a contribution and he hasn’t flinched from that. I don’t think about who I want to keep or who wants to leave. People have their own ambitions in their football careers. My goal is to make sure we are supporting them in their endeavours. If they think the opportunity is better for them elsewhere, then we will go through that process. I don’t think about it because I may want to keep all of them but I could get offers in for them."

On the future of Stephen Welsh and on receiving any offers for his players:

"What I can tell you right now is that we do not have an offer for any player. People can talk about offers and that clubs want him but I can't spend my time chasing shadows about what's in the press every morning as I would spend my whole day talking to players. If there is an issue or players have stuff put in front of them about their futures, then I'm sure they will come and see Michael (Nicholson) and I and we will speak to their representatives but right now there is nothing, zero, zip, nada...nothing going on."

On the recruitment of Johnston, Kobayashi and Iwata:

“I’m really pleased with the three boys we have brought in. That was probably our priority at this stage. What we have got to obviously be aware of is that there might be departures as well but whatever happens, we can make decisions that are best for the football club. There is no great urgency now because of the business we have already done.”

READ MORE: What does the arrival of Tomoki Iwata mean for Celtic's midfield?

On his personal feelings for every member of his playing staff:

“I think it was my first year of coaching that my favourite player left me after two games because he had a better offer, so I have never fallen in love with them.”

This piece is an extract from the latest Celtic Digest newsletter, which is emailed out every weekday evening with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from The Celtic Way team.

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