Ange Postecoglou insists he wants interest in his Celtic stars amid talk of Brendan Rodgers ' Leicester City preparing to launch a bid for Matt O’Riley. The Hoops boss is not worried about English big guns sniffing around his top men – as it only proves they are doing the business at Parkhead.
Celtic managed to pull off a coup landing O’Riley in January for a bargain £1.5m from MK Dons when a host of clubs down south were keeping tabs. Leicester City are understood to be still watching the Denmark under 21 ace but Postecoglou does not fear a mega bucks approach.
He said: “I encourage it. If big clubs want our players that’s great. It’s means they are going well. I keep saying to the boys, they don’t need to worry about their futures if they are the best they can be today. That kind of stuff doesn’t come on my radar so I don’t worry about it.
“I’m not seen anything from Matt to suggest he’s thinking about these things. The players know why big clubs might come in for them. It’s not because we’ve given them publicity – it’s the work they do, day in and day out.”
O’Riley has been a smash hit since his Celtic switch and he impressed again in last night’s 2-2 draw against Legia Warsaw in former Hoops keeper Artur Boruc’s testimonial.
The playmaker hit the post twice and has picked up where he left off last season.
But Postecoglou is convinced there’s another gear in the attacker.
He said: “He’s got a lot more in him – they all do. That’s my job. For anyone here to be past their best, they might as well not be here. My job is to get more out of them. Obviously he had a big season here last year.
“He established himself at first team level at MK Dons and then with us. He’s just beginning his career. We’l push him to be the best he can possibly be, as we do with all of them, because that’s what’s required here.”
Celtic looked slick in the first half in Poland as Reo Hatate notched a sensational opener before teeing up Daizen Maeda for a second. But Postecoglou changed his entire line up after the break and the replacements were guilty of lapses to allow Legia back in.
The Hoops boss said: “It was okay. Some good, some not so good. It was typical pre-season stuff, it had a little bit of everything.
“We missed a few chances as we should have had more in the first half, but that’s the pre-season sharpness bit. Some of our play was good some of our movement was good and to get Reo back as well he looked nice and sharp.
“First half was ok, second half some of it wasn’t great and I was disappointed but at the same time we’re making so many changes so it’s going to happen. I don’t think it was defensive lapses, they were just individual errors. You have them at this time of year because players are not feeling 100 percent going into games.
That’s part of the process as well and we have to be better at addressing that even when we’re not feeling 100 percent fresh because we’re working hard and still concentrating. It was disappointing in the second half when we had lapses in concentration which shouldn’t happen.”
Gio Giakoumakis will be back for Saturday’s friendly with Norwich after the birth of his child, while new recruits Moritz Jenz and Aaron Mooy could also feature. Postecoglou added: “She’s had the baby so he’s back and he trained today at Lennoxtown with Aaron and Moritz and he’ll be fine for Saturday.”
