Neil Lennon has admitted that the sale of Kieran Tierney has allowed him to upgrade his transfer wish-list.
Since the first competitive match of the season in Sarajevo a month ago Lennon has only added Hatem Abd Elhamed to his squad.
That deal cost £1.6m but armed with a £25m boost to the club’s coffers the hoops boss is able to raise the bar with the added bonus that English clubs can’t come in to gazump his offers.
Transfer speculation is only going to intensify over the remaining 23 days of the transfer window with Lennon confident that he will be able to bring in the quality of player required to deliver success at home and make the club competitive in Europe.
He told the Daily Record:
The squad looks strong, it looks good. We want to bring a few in, but we may have to get a few out to make sure the balance is right. We have done well over the years – developing players and selling them on.We have also used that money to add to the quality, and this situation will be no different.
Will it help to upgrade my wish-list? Yes. It will help. We aren’t going to go out and break the transfer record but we will try to be shrewd with it. We will look to up the quality if we can in the positions we want to. We can still buy players from England. You might get good deals coming out of there, or abroad, now.
We are in a healthy position. I like the squad but we are always looking to strengthen. We are playing well just now, there is momentum and we look fit but if there is quality available, we will look to strengthen and give the place a lift.
Ideally, we will have one or two in before the next European round. I keep saying that but you need to be patient. Ideally, yes. But there are no guarantees.
Celtic will discover on Tuesday whether they will be in the Play Off round of the Champions League or Europa League.
Almost forgotten during the sale of Tierney was a 1-1 draw away to Cluj that makes the hoops strong favourites to see off the Romanian champions and within reach of the Champions League group phase.