Postecoglou: January window won't be as 'chaotic' as Celtic's summer

Ange Postecoglou has said that he wants to add to his squad in January but that recruitment won’t be as chaotic as Celtic’s rebuild in the summer.

The Australian came into the club when the squad was facing significant turnover of players and had to bring in new faces for every area of the team before the September deadline.

January brings another opportunity to add players as Postecoglou develops the team to his style of play and he has already been linked with some players, with a return to his former club to sign forward Daizen Maeda among those being reported.

The Celtic boss declined to go in to any details on individuals, and said that it was a little early to be discussing purchases when his current squad may show him there’s no need to target a particular position for change.

“We are going early with being linked with players,” Postecoglou said. “It could be a long three months, me neither confirming nor denying players coming in.

“We are looking to strengthen the squad in January and we will. We have started that process but the difference being, we are in no rush.

“I want to see how players develop. We have players who are just beginning their Celtic careers. I really want to see how they develop over the next month or two before we make any key decisions about who we bring in because we might find that in areas we thought we might need someone, we don’t.

“From that perspective, I know whatever business we do in January, it won’t be as chaotic as it was in the last window.”

As Postecoglou and his staff identify players to help the team progress, it won’t just be technical ability or physical attributes they consider.

“A hugely important part of bringing players here is understanding their mentality and whether they can cope,” he said.

“I was confident with someone like Kyogo. I kind of knew him really well from Japanese football. I knew his background and I asked enough people about him as a personality, to know he would cope well.

“That is part of the process, particularly when you are talking about bringing in people in January when they are going to have to hit the ground running.

“Those are the things we will be looking into, not just their playing ability but also their personality.

“And a big part of it will be the ones who want to come here.

“When players show intent, people like Jota and Kyogo, there was never any discussion to try to convince them to come to Celtic, this was their preferred destination and this was a big part of it.”

Specifically on the link with Maeda, he added: “I can neither confirm or deny.”There is no doubt the Japanese league is one I know well, I have an advantage there.

“Obviously I know Deizen well, I was the one who brought him to Yokahama F Marinos but I can definitely confirm we are not in advance talks with anyone to sign anyone at the moment.

“We will be casting the net far and wide, we are not going to just limit it to the Japanese league.

“With the way we have started the season and how some of our younger players have been playing, we have become an attractive destination for players but I am not going to rush into that.”