Ange Postecoglou is looking to bring in two new signings this week but one of them WON’T be a defensive midfielder, a warrior in the mould of Victor Wanyama.
The Celtic boss was surprisingly open about his transfer plans following the 2-2 draw with Blackburn Rover having previously straight-batted all previous attempts to get information on transfers.
Almost all midfield and attacking positions have at least two options at the moment but Callum McGregor appears to be the only player trusted to anchor he midfield. Bringing in a defensive midfielder would provide cover for the captain and also open up the option to release McGregor into a more advanced role.
Vinicius Souza seemed to fit that profile perfectly but after being strongly linked to Celtic he has joined Espanyol on loan for the season.
The last time that Celtic progressed beyond the group stage in the Champions League Wanyama fulfilled that role perfectly. In recent times Scott Brown was mainly deployed alongside McGregor but Postecoglou has no intention of bringing in a Brown or Wanyama type to his squad.
Responding to the suggestion of signing a defensive midfielder, Postecoglou told Football Scotland:
Nah, it’s not my style. Our role is to dominate games in a collective sense. Blackburn are a big, physical team, but in the first half I thought we played really well and handled them no problem.
When we are playing our football and moving the ball around, we don’t need to rely on that side of the game. We have players who can be physical in their own way.
One of the goals was a set-piece and the other one was after 30 seconds. It is part of the process of where we are at. I still thought our reaction to conceding was really good, especially in the first 45.
The guessing game over who is coming in to Celtic is set to intensify over the coming days.
