SOME of the 12 fresh additions to the Celtic playing staff in the summer transfer window have required time to bed into their new surroundings.
Others have made an instant impact and are already key members of the squad as Ange Postecoglou tries to instil his particular brand of attacking football.
It's a mix of both types here as Ross Goodwin of Bhoys Analytics gives his verdict on Celtic's summer acquisitions in part two of his transfer window round-up (part one here)...
Josip Juranovic
Juranovic looks like the bargain of the window.
A full Croatia international that fits perfectly into Postecoglou’s system for a few million pounds is almost too good to be true.
He put in a strong performance out of position at left-back against Rangers, where he got on the ball more than any other player on the park. It will be at right-back Celtic get the most out of Juranovic, however, as he is very creative from full-back with both strong crossing and forward passing.
Once Giorgos Giakoumakis is ready to start I could see Juranovic combining with the target man frequently throughout the season as Celtic finally gain an aerial threat.
Anthony Ralston has played well since coming in but he just cannot provide as much going forward as Juranovic, so I expect him to take over the starting role. Ralston will provide depth and may be used as a more defensive physical presence to retain leads late in games.
Joe Hart
Hart was a signing that caused some confusion initially.
The perception was that he was not suited to “Ange-ball”, where keepers are expected to be on the ball high up the pitch and helping with build-up play.
We had seen Postecoglou attempt this with Vasilis Barkas early in pre-season, when he would often take up Scott Brown’s old position between the centre-backs to help play out from the back.
With the signing of Hart, this tactic has been abandoned with Callum McGregor dropping into the number-six role to help build-up play from deep.
This has had some positive effects against weaker opposition as Celtic slice through them, but against the likes of AZ Alkmaar and Rangers they severely struggled to play out as McGregor was often marked closely. It will be interesting to see how Postecoglou combats this going forward, when McGregor returns from injury.
What Hart has undoubtedly improved, though, is Celtic’s ability to keep the ball out of the net. Per 90 minutes, Hart is conceding 1.04 goals on an xGC of 1.32. He is conceding 0.28 goals less than expected per 90.
He has also added much-needed leadership to a shaky backline even taking over the role as captain in McGregor’s absence recently. With Hart, Celtic have gone some way to replacing the leadership lost by the departure of our former captain Brown.
Osaze Urhoghide
Urhogide would become the first recruit of the Postecoglou era joining Celtic for a cross-border compensation fee.
These types of deals have been hugely profitable for Celtic in the past few seasons with the likes of Jeremie Frimpong and Moussa Dembele coming in and having a huge impact before being sold for large profits.
These deals are low-risk, high-reward but we have seen many come and fail to make the grade so far with the likes of Lee O’Connor, Jonathon Afolabi and Luca Connell rarely featuring for the Celtic first team.
The question is what category Urhogide will find himself in. Unfortunately, from what we have witnessed so far it will likely be the latter.
His breakthrough season for Sheffield Wednesday came late in his development at the age of 20, where he started in a back three as his side were relegated to English League One.
Now 21, Urhogide doesn’t appear to be anywhere near the Celtic starting 11 and hasn’t been loaned out for minutes which could ultimately be detrimental to his development.
From what little we have seen of him, at either right-back or centre-back, he didn’t look strong enough technically on the ball to play Postecoglou's fast-paced passing football.
With the likes of Carl Starfelt, Liam Scales, Cameron Carter Vickers and Josip Juranovic coming in, as well as Christopher Jullien returning from injury, there seems to be just too many players ahead of Urhogide for him to get a chance at first-team football for the time being.
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