Ange Postecoglou insists he WANTS elite clubs eyeing Josip Juranovic as Roma enter the chase for the Celtic star.
The boss is adamant it’s a positive for the Parkhead club to have transfer vultures circling around the Croatian and others within his exciting young team. Juranovic has rocketed onto the radar of some of Europe’s major teams after adding outstanding World Cup performances to his impressive displays at Celtic.
Roma are the latest with Italian reports on Friday stating boss Jose Mourinho’s sporting director Tiago Pinto is assessing the Parkhead ace. While his club restart their Premiership title bid against Aberdeen on Saturday, he will miss Pittodrie as well as his nation’s third-placed play-off against Morocco due to injury. However, Juranovic has already made his mark in Qatar and Celtic are now braced for a bidding war for the 27-year-old ahead of next month’s transfer window with figures upwards of £15 million set to hit the negotiating table for the sought-after right-back.
Postecoglou is unperturbed and said: “We want clubs looking at our players, we want people talking about our football club and I think they are all positive things. It is great he is getting noticed. I want our players getting noticed. If they weren’t getting noticed they wouldn’t be doing well.
“I don’t even think about it. At the end of the day, I hope all of our players are getting the attention because it means we have good players here. From my perspective, I think all our boys did really well at the World Cup and that’s a reflection of how they are developing as footballers at our football club.
“I think that is the most important thing. I’m sure a lot of our players are getting attention and will continue to get attention and that’s what we want.”
Celtic stars Daizen Maeda, Aaron Mooy and Cameron Carter-Vickers all performed with distinction in Qatar when afforded opportunities by Japan, Australia and the USA. Johnston, who is the likely long-term replacement for Juranovic, also shone for Canada.
But it is the Croat who has made the biggest impression having taken his profile up several notches with a sensational Man of the Match display in Croatia’s quarter-final win over Brazil. Postecoglou said: “He’s been great, like all our boys. He’s done really well against world class opposition and was a key player on his country’s ride to the semi-final of a World Cup.
“That’s something he will have with him forever. He represented his country well, himself, his family and our football club. I’m really pleased for him.”
With Johnston not available until January, Juranovic is set to return to Lennoxtown at the beginning of next week after a break following the third-placed match in Qatar. Postecoglou said: “I don’t think he’s going to play, but he’ll have a week off same as everyone else and then we’ll get him back into the building on Monday week.”
Asked if he’d be available for the away game against Hibs on Wednesday week, the boss added: “Yeah, potentially. If he’s all good.”
Postecoglou, meanwhile, has stated that, with Alistair Johnston and Yuki Kobayashi already signed, he’s still on the lookout for more new faces in January. He said: “We’re still working on a few things. Whether they will happen or not, we will see.
“If I feel something is there that will make us stronger then, as much as Michael (Nicholson) and Chris (McKay) may want to have a quiet Christmas, I’m going to keep them working over that time and keep them on their toes!
“We’re still working on things. No guarantee what will happen, but we’ve not even hit January yet, so we’ll see how things transpire. But it’s great to have Alistair and Yuki in. They have a couple of weeks to settle before they are available and we’ll see what else transpires over the next few weeks.”
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