How Celtic's January transfer window won them the title

The clubs - rightly - brought it forward in what turned out to be an extremely successful move to keep fans at as many games as possible.

Celtic limped into this break six points off Rangers with a squad decimated by injuries. Comparing the starting line-up from the game against a covid-hit St Mirren side to that against Hearts at the weekend where the title was all but secured, sees only three of the same starting XI. This includes Anthony Ralston, who is currently filling in for the injured Josip Juranovic at the moment as well.

It’s clear the squad was in a bad place but the feeling was during the winter break players could recover and new recruits would be brought in.

Unlike the summer window, Ange Postecoglou was coming into this one completely prepared and looking to get deals done early for quality and players who suited his system.

As soon as the window opened the trio of signings from the J1 League that had been long rumoured was announced with Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Yosuke Ideguchi joining.

READ MORE: Ange Postecoglou's remarkable Celtic team have written a piece of club history worth singing about

On January 20 Matt O’Riley would join for a small fee after the failed chase of Riley McGree. Outside Ideguchi, the other three signings would prove to have a massive impact over the rest of the season.

Looking at the metrics below each has had a substantial impact in the last few months. Hatate started on fire with a series of goals against Rangers and Hearts that put Celtic back at the top of the table. Maeda took only four minutes to get off the mark while his energy and desire have endeared him to the fans since.

O’Riley has been perhaps the biggest surprise coming from League One in England and slotting easily into the Celtic midfield. He has shown himself to be one of the best central players across the division with his creativity and defensive skills making him such a difficult player to come up against.

These signings have been able to provide 16.5 per cent of Celtic’s goals in the league this season - that’s a huge amount of extra attacking power that was added in one window.

The most promising factor across these three signings is that they have continued to improve as they get more practice with the system and chemistry with their team-mates. O’Riley has become more of a goal threat in recent games and Maeda has started to show that he can be a creative force on the left wing.

These players were scouted perfectly which must give fans huge confidence going into the summer as Postecoglou has the Champions League money and a keen eye for a player. This team can surely only get better and better.

On the other side of the city, after a few poor results in January Rangers appeared to panic. Two late marquee loan signings - Aaron Ramsay and Amad Diallo - were brought in to try and ensure the title.

These players had the name recognition but weren’t necessarily what they required to improve. With the season almost over, their input has been marginal at best and they make up just 5.5 per cent of Rangers' goal output and did little to help the Light Blues creatively.

The importance of a sound recruitment strategy and the benefits that come with it were all on show in January as Celtic got it all right and their rivals all wrong.

It was, in short, a huge month that helped swing the title back to the east end of Glasgow this season.