ANGE POSTECOGLOU says that he doesn’t need Dermot Desmond to step in and help him do his job at Celtic, as that’s exactly what the club’s principal shareholder hired him to do.
The Australian coach was responding to reports that Desmond has taken a more hands-on approach to recruitment this summer in an attempt to aid Postecoglou and new chief executive Dominic McKay’s rebuild of the Celtic squad.
But Postecoglou says he is more than capable of getting the job done without any input from Desmond or elsewhere, and he has been given a clear remit by Desmond to do just that.
“I’ve [had] good chats with him about the key fundamentals,” Postecoglou said. “He’s employed me to do the job. I don’t think he’s employed me to get him to do the job.
“Dermot, Dom, the whole club has been very supportive from the first day. But I’m the one assigned to do the job and the work.
“I didn’t come here for others to do it and I think that’s their expectations of me.”
As part of Postecoglou’s rebuild, Celtic are closing in on the signing of Royal Antwerp right-back Aurelio Buta, though the manager is wary of counting his chickens given the fraught nature of the transfer market at present.
“Mate, ‘close to signing’ could mean a million miles away at the moment,” he said.
"There's a lot I like. But liking someone and bringing them in is a different proposition.
“What I do know is that we’re working on things, but I can categorically say that we haven’t signed anyone else yet. There’s no one put pen to paper.
“We’re working hard to make sure we can do that in the coming days.
“Plenty of names are being thrown about it. I’ve said I can’t talk about deals that are being made and, at this moment in time you are talking to me, there is no other deals that have been made.
“But we are trying hard to get deals done.”
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