Celtic treble winner urges Ange to extend global recruitment

Ramon Vega is a big fan of Ange Postecoglou’s international recruitment drive. 

At the turn of the century Martin O’Neill’s side had a very British DNA with Chris Sutton, Neil Lennon and Alan Thompson joining the native Scots with a hint of Sweden through Henrik Larsson and Johan Mjallby with Joos Valgaeren in from Belgium alongside the imposing Bobo Balde French born but an internationalist from Guinea. 

Vega had a highly successful six month loan spell, picking up all three domestic medals following spells in Switzerland, Italy and England. 

The English market is increasingly expensive and competitive to deal in with Postecoglou resetting the markets that Celtic are recruiting from with Japan a particular success. 

A year ago Reo Hatate, Kyogo Furhashi and Daizen Maeda could walk along Sauchiehall Street without a second glance, if they tried that tomorrow social media would be swamped with selfies from Celtic fans. 

Argentinian Alexandro Bernabei appears to be attracting the attention of Celtic’s scouts with Vega telling the Daily Record how the global game operates:  

The Japanese players have had a big impact at Celtic and there is no question that the world is getting smaller when it comes to player recruitment. 

South American players, for example, have long been going to major countries in Europe and succeeding at the highest levels. 

You can see that South American players have a proven track record and I think it is very good that Celtic are looking into every market. 

When you know that you are going into the group stages of the Champions League and that you are going to be facing the very best, you need to be geared up and ready. It’s about quality. It has nothing to do with the country. It’s about the level of ability. 

Of course, there are concerns about integration, that’s the same with any new player when he goes to a new country and a new club. 

But Celtic didn’t seem to have any problems last season with the way the manager was able to get many people from many different countries and make it work. 

It is not dangerous. Look at Real Madrid. They are the champions of Europe and they have players from all over the place. 

Champions League football should be a massive draw, a currency that is recognised worldwide with fans looking out for the first moves of Postecoglou’s third transfer window after successfully mining Asia in his first two.