Andrew Smith has claimed that three signings are expected to follow Eddie Howe to Celtic soon after the new manager is appointed.
All of the signs point to the former Bournemouth boss finally taking over from Neil Lennon even though there are vacancies in the EPL at Spurs, Crystal Palace and Wolves as well as recently relegated West Brom and Sheffield United.
Howe hasn’t made any direct comment about being linked with the Celtic job while the Hoops have held back on getting Season Tickets renewals as fans wait and speculate over who will be in charge and what sort of squad they will be watching.
Discussing Howe’s arrival in The Scotsman, Smith claims:
He is believed to want to be able to press the button on a trio of transfer deals at the earliest possible opportunity. It is, after all, a mere nine weeks till Celtic face the opening leg of their second round Champions League qualifier.
The tone of the article appears to put complete faith in the judgement of Dermot Desmond. Last September the Irish businessman told The Athletic that he felt Neil Lennon’s squad was superior to the one that Martin O’Neill took to the UEFA Cup Final in 2003.
With the season ended four loan players have returned to their parent clubs, Scott Brown is committed to joining Aberdeen while Odsonne Edouard, Kris Ajer, Olivier Ntcham are entering the final year of their contract with Ryan Christie able to leave for free in January.
Smith was the journalist that Desmond chose to speak to in 2004 for a feature in the grandly priced Celtic Opus.