Celtic

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The click is ticking towards Celtic's most important games of the season.

The first leg of the Champions League play-off against LASK takes place at Parkhead on 19 August and the squad is in urgent need of reinforcements, with strikers Camilo Duran and Kasper Hogh the only new arrivals this summer.

Paulo Bernardo's loan exit on Tuesday night was the 17th departure from the first-team squad, while Arne Engels and Alistair Johnston are being pursued by West Ham and Everton respectively.

Stephen McGowan, football writer for The Herald, is expecting Celtic to spend big this summer but when will those deals be done?

"The message from Martin O'Neill l is quality over quantity," McGowan told the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.

"I think that's fair enough. I think that's what people want to see to give them have a chance of succeeding in Europe.

"I think they will spend a pretty substantial amount of money for a Scottish club at end of this window. I think it'll be in excess of £40m, they bring most of that in in terms of players they are selling.

"But the frustration for supporters is how long it seems to drag on because you're looking at a Champions League play-off, the first leg is two weeks away and you're going to have to bring in a right winger, probably two midfielders, a right-back, they still want a goalkeeper, they don't really have a back-up left-back.

"I just think it's an awful lot of work to give yourself to do in a relatively short space of time ahead of what is going to be arguably the two most important games of the season."

Jonathan Sutherland
Sportscene presenter

Jack Walton - Dundee United

Made several important stops as Dundee United matched Rangers at Tannadice.

Lewis Mayo - Aberdeen

Bundled a vital equaliser home as Aberdeen snatched three points at the death against Hearts.

Martin Moormann - Motherwell

An impressive defensive performance from the Austrian as Motherwell repelled Hibernian's second-half pressure.

Cheick Diabate - St Johnstone

A goal and another big showing from the St Johnstone centre-back as Simo Valakari's side edged a seven-goal thriller against Kilmarnock.

Henry Fieldson - St Mirren

The versatile signing from Queen's Park had a superb St Mirren league debut.

Kieran Tierney - Celtic

Felt like the Kieran Tierney of old. He swung in a sublime assist for Benjamin Nygren's winning goal.

Thelo Aasgaard - Rangers

A moment of real quality to equalise and repay the faith shown in him by manager Derek McInnes.

Killian Phillips - St Mirren

Energy personified. The Irish midfielder made all the difference, scoring twice, as St Mirren beat Falkirk on Saturday.

Jamie Gullan - St Johnstone

Full of guile in their Championship-winning season and normal service resumed in the swashbuckling win over Kilmarnock. Five key passes and two assists for the tricky wide man.

Ibrahim Said - Motherwell

His delight was clear to see as he finished off a fine Motherwell passing move to put Hibs to the sword at Easter Road.

Kevin Nisbet - Aberdeen

The Aberdeen captain thoroughly enjoyed his celebration as he handled the pressure of winning the match for Aberdeen from the penalty spot deep in added time.

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​Celtic are pushing for a deal to sign Fares Ghedjemis from Frosinone, who want 9.5m euros for the Algeria winger, 23. (Sebastien Vidal, external)

President Maurizio Stirpe says Frosinone do not need to sell Ghedjemis but the Italian club are willing to listen to offers. (Glasgow Times, external)

Celtic and Rangers, who have also been linked with Ghedjemis, would need to part with an eight-figure fee to secure the winger. (Scotsman - subscription required, external)

Brentford may sanction another loan move to Celtic for defender Benjamin Arthur, 20. (Football Insider, external)

Celtic defender Dane Murray is among Dundee's list of targets but the Scottish champions are not interested in loaning out the 23-year-old. (Courier - subscription required, external)

Marcelo Saracchi, the 28-year-old left-back who was on loan at Celtic from Boca Juniors last season and had been linked with a return to Glasgow, has reportedly joined Houston Dynamo. (National - subscription required, external)

Wednesday's Scottish gossip

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Out-of-favour Celtic midfielder Paulo Bernardo has joined Gornik Zabrze on loan, with the Polish top-flight runners-up having an option to buy.

The 24-year-old Portuguese has made 64 appearances for the Scottish champions since signing from Benfica in September 2023 initially on loan, before signing permanently the following August, on a five-year deal.

More than half of those appearances have been as a substitute, he last started a game in February and he was not part of Martin O'Neill's squad for Monday's season-opening 1-0 win over Dundee in the Scottish Premiership.

Bernardo joins Gornik as they prepare to visit Ferencvaros in the Europa League third qualifying round on Wednesday.

Michal Gasparik's side dropped down from Champions League qualifying after last week's 2-1 aggregate defeat by Fenerbahce.

They started their season with a 3-1 defeat by league champions Lech Poznan in the Polish Super Cup but beat Slask Wroclaw 2-1 in the opening game of the Ekstraklasa season.

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Celtic defender Cameron Carter-Vickers admits he is still "a work in progress" after returning to action following almost nine months out with an Achilles injury.

The USA international made his comeback in Monday's season-opening 1-0 victory against Dundee and while delighted to be back on the pitch, he says there's improvements to come from himself and the team.

"Obviously, pre-season I only played 60 minutes. So the last 15, 20 there was difficult," the 28-year-old said.

"But yeah, it's good to be back in competitive games. I probably missed about eight, nine months of football. It's never going to be quick to get back to kind of exactly where you want to be. But it's a work in progress and I'm feeling pretty good.

"Obviously good result, three points, that's all we were after. I thought we probably could have scored a few more goals with the chances that we had.

"So yeah, first game of the season, something to build on and keep trying to improve."

Martin O'Neill's side are two weeks away from their crucial Champions League play-off against Austrians LASK and have opted to postpone their Premiership game at St Johnstone that was due to be played between the two legs.

And Carter-Vickers admits the extra preparation will be beneficial.

"This is a key fixture," he added.

"It's key to how your season's going to play out. It's definitely an important game and I do see that [rescheduling] as positive.

"We're ready. We found out who we're playing. I think any game we had would have been a tough tie for us. We're looking forward to it and we'll go in there with positivity."

Celtic fell at the same round last year after two goalless draws with Kazakh side Kairat Almaty, who progress on penalties.

When asked what Celtic have learned from last year's disappointment, Carter-Vickers added: "Score a goal. I'm joking. Obviously, we know whoever you get in the qualifiers will be a tough tie.

"So, we've got to go there, first at home and do our best to win the game and then try and go away and get the result we want."

Tino
Fan writer

Seventy-one days after Celtic were last in competitive action, the champions finally returned as Martin O'Neill's side opened the new campaign with a 1-0 win over Dundee on flag night at Celtic Park.

The scoreline mirrored last season's opening-day victory over St Mirren, played exactly a year earlier. But while the result was the same, so much about Celtic has changed, most notably in the dugout.

Much of the pre-match excitement surrounded Celtic's two - and only - new arrivals as Camilo Duran and Kasper Hogh made their competitive debuts.

Both will undoubtedly produce better performances, but each showed enough to offer encouragement on a night when the three points mattered more than anything else.

The decisive moment arrived in the second half and, almost inevitably, it came through Benji Nygren. The Swede continued where he left off last season, glancing home the only goal of the game to get Celtic up and running.

With Rangers and Hearts both dropping points, the victory was important. The performance, however, did little to settle the unease that continues to hang over the club - in the stands, across the messageboards and throughout social media.

Celtic's win over Dundee was far closer and less convincing than it should have been. The wider concern is that, had the squad been properly strengthened by this stage of the summer, Celtic might not have found themselves clinging to a one-goal advantage on the opening night.

Martin O'Neill continues to play his cards close to his chest whenever transfers are raised, but even he must be growing anxious.

Celtic's Champions League home leg against LASK is now just 15 days away, there's still time to strengthen before then but that time is disappearing quickly.

That tie is comfortably Celtic's biggest fixture of the early season. Should the club once again fail to provide the manager with the additions he needs before it arrives, the reaction from supporters will be entirely predictable and understandable. Let's hope it does not come to that.

The club must now do the right thing for O'Neill, the team and, above all, the supporters.

The same supporters who buy the season tickets, the merchandise and the European packages. The same supporters who continue to do their bit, season after season.

At a time when Celtic have rarely if ever been in a stronger financial position, rewarding that loyalty by properly strengthening the squad surely isn't too much to ask.

Tino can be found at The Celtic Exchange, external

Charlotte Cohen
BBC Sport Scotland

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After his first outing for Celtic, record signing Kasper Hogh joked that he needs some "shooting practice".

The Denmark international played the full game as Martin O'Neill's side beat Dundee 1-0 at Parkhead to kick off their Premiership title defence.

But how did Hogh fare on his first outing for his new club?

Having cost a reported £11m from Bodo/Glimt, Hogh will ultimately be judged on goals but he was unable to get off the mark at the first time of asking, although it is clearly too early to judge a player who only joined last week.

He generated an expected goals (xG) of 0.88, the highest of any Celtic player including goalscorer Benjamin Nygren (0.86).

Hogh's four shots, all of which came inside the box, was also the most of any player, as was his eight touches inside the Dundee box.

The Dane was understandably disappointed not to get off the mark. He snatched at an early gilt-edged chance, scuffing wide from a Nygren pass, then diverted an effort from the Swede past the post.

Hogh also poked wide in the second half as a debut goal proved elusive. Evidently, though, the striker knows where to be and is confident the goals will come.

On what he learned from his debut, Hogh told Sky Sports: "That we have amazing fans and I have to go to some shooting practice.

"I was just happy to be on the pitch and help my team-mates win. I can't do anything about it now [missing chances], I can just work on it and be happy for the win."

The striker looked decent in the air and won four of his seven aerial duels. Only centre-backs Cameron Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty won more.

Plus, only Carter-Vickers and winger Yang Hyun-jun won more duels than Hogh's five from 11.

Hogh also admitted it will take him a bit of time to get used to Celtic's grass pitch, with Bodo/Glimt and the majority of Norwegian top-flight sides playing on astroturf.

"I have to adapt to the grass, that's a different thing for me," he added. "I was just happy to be out there."

Celtic fans, we asked for your views on facing LASK in the Champions League and Monday night's narrow win over Dundee in the Premiership opener.

Here's what some of you had to say:

Alistair: Being optimistic, we can be happy that we have opened the season with a win and a head start on our two closest challengers. However, reinforcements are essential, especially with the Champions League qualifier on the horizon. The weaknesses in the wide areas and at left-back were clear to see.

John M: It wasn't pretty but Celtic did what Celtic do - they carved out the win despite a poor performance by their standards. Put it down to rustiness and bedding in of new signings but there also has to be more urgency in their movement up the field. Outgoing players will have to be replaced with similar quality with that same urgency.

George: Given the lack of signings, preparation time with new players, and key players leaving, this Champions League play-off will be a very difficult tie to progress from. We will need to win by couple of goals at home to have any chance of qualifying. On basis of Monday night's awful performance against Dundee that does not look at all likely.

Kevin: We need ties like this. Celtics record isn't spectacular in Europe early doors, this is mostly due to us playing the unknown and not being ready. Our two new forwards should help us, we just need a few more players in. Maybe this will wake the board up and push through a few more signings beforehand. I fancy us to go through though.

John: It's certainly a tough draw but one that will hopefully keep the minds on the game. We cannot go into this one with anything other than a must-win attitude. I am more confident now we have a bit of firepower up front with two proven scorers in Europe in the past.

Joshua: After the Dundee match, it won't matter who they face this Celtic side are not ready for anyone in Europe at the minute. Slack, slow, pedestrian, its a tough watch.

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Martin O'Neill hopes Celtic can keep Arne Engels and Alistair Johnston for the Champions League play-off against Austrian champions LASK.

West Ham are trying to sign 22-year-old Belgium midfielder Engels while Everton have targeted 27-year-old Canada full-back Johnston.

Celtic will play at home in the first leg on Wednesday, 19 August, with the return game the following Tuesday.

Both Engels and Johnston started the season opener on Monday night as Benjamin Nygren's header gave O'Neill's defending champions a 1-0 win over Dundee.

O'Neill felt his side "did enough to win" but then was asked about the possibility of keeping Engels and Johnston for the European qualifiers.

"Ideally, that would be brilliant, that would be really good," he said.

"We wouldn't know if the other clubs would want to pursue that, if that was the case.

"I'm quite sure that anybody starting off in their own particular leagues would want their players in as soon as possible.

"But ideally, that would be great. I think that that's one of the things that we will definitely be looking at.

"I seriously could not say for sure, you'd have to take players' thoughts into consideration and maybe the other clubs, but overall for me selfishly that would be great.

"Alistair and Arne both said to me that they would want to play in the game if things had not progressed. And I thought they did fine.

"Alistair has got a very strong mindset anyway.

"But you are naturally worried about transfer speculation in the background and how you might take the game into consideration psychologically as well ask physically.

"But I thought they did fine. I cannot update you on any progress from the other day because I don't know any."

O'Neill reaffirmed his quest to further bolster his squad following the signings of strikers Camilo Duran and Kasper Hogh.

He said: "Well, I'm hoping that we'll get some players in. That's the aim. We have two and they're decent players for us but we're striving to get some more in."

West Ham United have had a second bid for Arne Engels rejected by Celtic. (Florian Plettenberg on X), external

Frosinone have rejected an £8m bid from Rangers for Fares Ghedjemis, days after Celtic had a £6m offer for the Algeria winger turned down. (Sky Sports), external

Boca Juniors defender Marcelo Saracchi, who spent last season on loan at Celtic, is close to joining MLS outfit Houston Dynamo. (Info del Estero - in Spanish), external

Celtic have been in contact with Torino midfielder Gvidas Gineitis, according to the player's agent Dmitry Vinokurov. (Glasgow Times), external

Brondby midfielder Benjamin Tahirovic - another Celtic target - wants to leave the Danish club, manager Thomas Norgaard has confirmed. (Glasgow Times), external

The Parkhead outfit remain short of Las Palmas' valuation of goalkeeper Dinko Horkas, with Dinamo Zagreb also keen on the Croatian shot-stopper. (Canarias7 - in Spanish), external

Johnny Kenny has been left off Celtic's squad numbers list amid interest from Bolton Wanderers, who had the striker on loan last season. (The Herald), external

Read the rest of Tuesday's Scottish gossip.

Celtic began their Scottish Premiership title defence with a narrow home victory as Benjamin Nygren's header downed Dundee.

Read the match report here.

Let us know your thoughts here.

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Celtic manager Martin O'Neill tells BBC Scotland: "The most important thing is to win the game.

"We created a number of chances, but I didn't think we played particularly well. We could have played with more intensity - it was a typical opening game of the season.

"[Kieran Tierney and Callum McGregor] are the football club. They are the backbone of Celtic and it's great to see them playing together again.

"That's something we are looking at, [signing a back-up left-back]. Kieran - with the best will in the world - will not get through every game. We've got some young lads in the academy, but I think it's a bit early for them.

"I hope [McGregor] is here until he's 45. He had a conversation with the CEO, he's got a couple of years to run [on his deal], he loves it and to me he's potential managerial material.

"Kasper [Hogh] had a number of chances. It was one of those evenings where you want to impress and he will definitely get better. He will score goals.

"[Camilo] Duran, I played him a little bit out of position because we haven't had time for them to play together yet.

"We are doing our utmost to get people in. With about 15 days until the Champions League game, we would like to have people in.

"There's no point in me letting you know [the positions we want]. Overall, we are trying to improve the squad with quality. Quality costs and we're doing our best."

Clive Lindsay
BBC Sport Scotland

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Of the sides involved at the start of Champions League qualifying, Celtic's play-off opponents, LASK, are ranked slightly below Omonia Nicosia and just above Shamrock Rovers.

But that is largely down to the Linz club's relatively long absence from Europe's top table.

Dietmar Kuhbauer's side ended a 61-year wait to win the Austrian Bundesliga for just the second time last season.

And, like Celtic, they won their domestic league after coming from behind after the league split.

Having finished the regular season in third, one point behind Sturm Graz, they would finish top by two points, with Red Bull Salzburg collapsing in Rangers style into a distant third.

Sturm's 6-0 aggregate win over Hearts in the previous round suggests the quality Celtic will face, first at home on 18 and 19 August then in Austria the following week.

O'Neill will be cursing his luck considering could have been drawn against Viking Stavanger, Celje, Ararat-Armenia, Kairat Almaty, Levski Sofia, AGF Aarhus, or Sabah instead.

LASK have a higher coefficient than all but Celje, but the Austrian league is ranked much higher than Slovenia's, so it is probably the toughest draw Celtic could have been given.

They last competed in European competition two seasons ago, losing to FCSB of Romania in the Europa League play-off round before finishing a lowly 35th in the Conference League after three draws and three defeats, including a 7-0 thrashing away to Fiorentina.

They were also thumped 7-2 on aggregate by Dundee United in the Uefa Cup second round in 1984, drew 2-2 with Partick Thistle in the Intertoto Cup group stage in 1995 but beat St Johnstone 3-1 on aggregate in the Conference League play-off round in 2021.

A familiar face in the current squad is Miguel Freckleton, who moved to Austria from St Mirren this summer having helped defeat Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup final, while fellow defender Andres Andrade and midfielder Alessandro Schopf are experienced internationals with Panama and Austria respectively.

Celtic have been drawn against Austrian champions LASK in the Champions League play-offs.

Given they could have faced Viking Stavanger, Celje, Ararat-Armenia, Kairat Almaty, Levski Sofia, AGF Aarhus or Sabah, it is probably the toughest draw Martin O'Neill's side could have been given.

How do you rate their chances?

Give us your thoughts.

Current boss Martin O'Neill has tipped captain Callum McGregor to one day manage Celtic after the 33-year-old midfielder removed uncertainty surrounding his future by telling chief executive Michael Nicholson he is happy to stay with the Scottish champions. (The Herald, external)

Martin O'Neill believes Callum McGregor has what it takes to become a manager - and revealed the midfielder held summer talks with Celtic chief executive Michael Nicholson over his long-term future amid reports of a possible switch to Saudi Arabia. (The Scotsman, external)

Celtic have rejected an approach from Osasuna for 29-year-old Scotland left-back Kieran Tierney. (Scottish Sun, external)

Frosinone have knocked back Celtic's opening offer of around £6m for Rangers-linked Fares Ghedjemis and, although the Serie A club want to keep the 23-year-old Algeria winger, talks are ongoing between the clubs. (Sky Sports, external)

Celtic are preparing to improve their offer for Mika Baur with a structured package worth around £5m as the 22-year-old Paderborn midfielder still pushes to complete a move to Glasgow. (CeltsAreHere, external)

Mika Baur looks set to remain at Paderborn after a £4m offer from Celtic was rejected and with head coach Ralf Kettemann telling NW Sport he expects the midfielder to stay. (Daily Record, external)

Real Oviedo have rejected an offer of approximately £6.2m from Lens for 24-year-old Celtic-linked winger Haissem Hassan. (Juan Velazquez via TodoMercadoweb, external)

Read Monday's Scottish Gossip in full.

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Celtic are without the suspended Liam Scales as well as long-term absentee Jota (knee).

Dundee allowed Aaron Donnelly to join Dunfermline on loan last week, leaving them with only Ryan Astley and Owen Bevan in central defence.

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Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain says the Celtic "pressure cooker" is the ideal environment for him to thrive.

The England international signed a short-term deal with the Parkhead club in February and helped them win a league and Scottish Cup double last season.

The 32-year-old signed a new deal earlier this summer and is hungry for more success, starting with Monday's Scottish Premiership opener against Dundee.

"When the opportunity to come here last year came up, the fact that it was going to be a challenge, I really enjoyed that," he said.

"The idea of just trying to do whatever I could to give some experience or, at times, a few moments of quality that could help the lads go on to achieve what we did. The way it ended up was like dreamland stuff.

"That's what I thrive off. I'm fortunate enough to have been in teams where there is an expectation to win but also, at the same time, the reality is there's a lot of really, really good teams that make it really hard to win. I thrive in that pressure cooker.

"That's exactly the same mentality that's here. I definitely need that and especially now, I think that helps me bring the most out of myself at this point in my career.

"Having that and having the hunger and young players pushing and striving to be the best they can and go and win as much as they can, that's massive.

"Then you see guys in the dressing room like Cal [McGregor] and Jamesy [Forrest] that have won lots that still want to win.

"Seeing that and being next to that helps you to keep pushing and keep that motivation, even at this later stage of my career. I think that whole environment is what I need and I definitely thrive off that."

Oxlade-Chamberlain was without a club for the first half of last season after leaving Besiktas and is relishing a full summer-s preparation.

"This is probably actually my first proper pre-season in a good three years," he said.

"You still get that same buzz and I'm still running around with a few 16, 17-year-olds out there who are excited. So you feed off that energy and you feel the same age as always.

"Without the pre-season you can never 100 per cent know if you're fully fit or durable enough to last for the whole season. So that's really important. We'll have to see early on how that goes and how I'm feeling. But right now I feel great."