RONNY DEILA has admitted his squad lack European experience in the wake of their latest defeat and reiterated a desire to bring back a former hero to Celtic.
The Norwegian is desperate to bring together a relatively young squad, although most do have decent game-time in at least the Europa League, and one or two senior pros who know from earlier in their career what playing for the club is all about.
Using the timely example of Molde captain Danie Hestad, who at 40 scored the winning goal against Celtic on Thursday night, a player who left his hometown club before returning to end is career there, Deila believes persuading someone such as Aiden McGready or Shaun Maloney, although he refused to name names, would be crucial in his desire to move the team forward.
The Celtic manager said: "What you can do is get players who have already been at Celtic before and want to come back. That is if they want to play for Celtic.
"Then there is a player like Scott Brown who has stayed here for a long time. There is Charlie Mulgew who went away and came back again. Craig Gordon is another player who went out and then came back, and wanted to play for Celtic.
“It has to be mainly Scottish and British players who want to come and finish their careers at Celtic.
“Malmo, for example, have produced a lot of players and a lot of the time they go back. When you come from the city and know the club, then the players do have a heart for the football club.
“We will see. We have tried some, without wanting to mention names. It’s tough because of the salaries they have. That is the major problem. There are a lot of players who want to play for Celtic, but when they get their pay cheques they are not so interested. There is so much at stake for them, so much to lose economically.
"In Britain there are a lot of people who played in big clubs, who know what Celtic is all about. But, again, it is the financial side of it which makes things difficult.”
Deila admitted that the club's signing policy during his time has been uneven in terms of results.
He said: "We have bought a lot of players who can take the step, and it's too early to say about them just now. Overall, with the people that we haven't used money on, we have done okay."
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