Ronny Deila is still hopeful of adding a striker to his Celtic squad before the transfer window closes.
Last night’s UEFA deadline came and went without any new faces being added to the hoops squad to face Maribor in the Champions League qualifiers.
So far Deila has been forced to work in the loan market but with just under a fortnight remaining in the transfer window the hoops boss is still hopeful of bringing in a significant signing.
“When you go into the last two weeks of the transfer window something very good can happen,” Deila said.
“The biggest clubs with the biggest budgets are still not finished signing. At the end they have to get rid of people. So I will keep my money and make sure we spend it right. The last 14 days is the most important part.”
Since the transfer window opened Celtic have brought in £11m from the transfers of Tony Watt and Fraser Forster.
Craig Gordon is the only permanent signing that Deila has made with loan deals bringing in Jo Inge Berget, Jason Denayer, Alexsandar Tonev and Wakaso Mubarek.
The Champions League qualifiers against Maribor will go a long way to deciding Deila’s transfer funds with the hoops boss determined to make the most of Celtic’s Champions League reprieve.
Legia Warsaw’s pathetic attempts to remain in the top competition have been blown aside leaving Celtic two matches away from securing a £15m windfall from reaching the group stages of the Champions League.
“If we perform well, we’ll get our results,” the Celtic boss said about the Maribor clash. “If we don’t do it, we will not reach it. So the performance has to be much better than it was against Legia.
“We also know that if we come away from here with a good result, we have the crowd behind us at Celtic Park and everybody knows how much that means.
“We have improved, are more prepared, and I have a good feeling we can give a good performance and get a good result to take to Glasgow.”