IN the immediate aftermath of Celtic’s defeat to FC Midtjylland, manager Ange Postecoglou made a less than subtle plea to chief executive Dominic McKay to get some bodies in the door. And sharpish.

"Maybe I wasn’t clear enough,” Postecoglou said, when trying to explain why he was forced to take a Celtic team into Champions League qualifiers that had the look of a side he would baulk at sending out for the early rounds of the League Cup against lower league opposition.

He went on to outline how dithering over deals had cost Celtic dearly, and at the time, it seemed like a clarion call for McKay – for want of a better phrase – to get the finger out.

In fairness to the new Celtic CEO, that is exactly what has happened. Liel Abada, of course, was already in the door, and the winger has hit the ground running. Perpetually, it seems.

Carl Starfelt and Kyogo Furuhashi were also confirmed prior to that fateful evening in Herning, though they weren’t ready to play a part, and are now fully embedded into the starting XI.

It is true that Furuhashi’s impact has been rather more immediate than that of the Swedish centre-back, for whom the jury still remains very much out, but a serious chunk of change was laid out to bring them to Glasgow.

Since then, the goalkeeping position has been strengthened immeasurably by the signing of Joe Hart, which is both a reflection on the experience and presence that Hart has brought to this Celtic team so far, and the deficiencies of those he replaced.

There has been experience added to the midfield too with the capture of James McCarthy, who finally joined his boyhood heroes after the sort of ‘will-he, won’t he’ transfer saga that gives the Eddie Howe negotiations an air of brevity. He will be a worthy addition too no doubt once up to full fitness.

The latest arrival, Josip Juranovic, has now been rubber-stamped, and the Croatian international right-back looks a snip at the £2.5m Celtic paid to sign him from Legia Warsaw. That position seemed to be one of the most urgent to be filled in those early faltering stages of the season, but the fact that a player of Juranovic’s pedigree will now possibly have to fight his way into the team speaks volumes for the improvement in Anthony Ralston since then.

Ralston may well indeed be the one trusted in the two massive matches that Celtic have before them over the next few days, in Alkmaar tomorrow night and at Ibrox on Sunday, but Juranovic is up for the battle.

“This is a big club and a big opportunity for me, I want to see myself on this stage,” he told Celtic TV yesterday. “I want to give everything here. That’s it.”

He also hinted that his more natural attacking attributes may be the factor that tilts Postecoglou’s favours his way, given the active role that full-backs play in the Celtic manager’s aggressive philosophy.

“I am a team player and I like to show my ability: to cross, to assist, running – giving everything to win the game,” he said.

“I watched four games [before arriving] and they looked really good. I like him [Postecoglou] because he plays attacking football.

“Every player is in the half of the opposing team. I am really looking forward to it.”

So, there is no doubt that the Celtic squad is in a much healthier place than it was a month ago, and McKay deserves credit for heeding the words of his manager. But that doesn’t mean his work is done. Far from it.

With one week to go in both his and Postecoglou’s first transfer window at the club, there are still areas that need to be addressed.

Celtic now have two right-backs they can call on, but they still require a left-back to put pressure on Greg Taylor on the other side of the pitch, with Boli Bolingoli seemingly out of the picture altogether. Young Adam Montgomery has been given a decent amount of game-time off the bench by Postecoglou so far, and he is considered a hot prospect within the club, but Celtic are known to be looking to strengthen this area.

Moves for Josh Doig and Aaron Hickey have gone cold with Celtic appearing to have been scared off by the asking prices of Hibernian and Bologna respectively, but there may be a return to the negotiating table as time runs out in this window.

Numbers are still light in the centre-back position too, and although Stephen Welsh and Starfelt are forming the beginnings of a decent-looking partnership, the arrival of Liam Scales from Shamrock Rovers would be a welcome one.

Scales is hardly a name that will set pulses racing among the Celtic faithful, but perhaps lessons have been learned from the impact of Postecoglou and Furuhashi that we in Scotland should resist the urge to pre-judge players from so-called ‘lesser’ leagues than our own.

Until Christopher Jullien comes back from injury, which could still be a month or more away, the 21-year-old may be a useful addition to provide depth in that area which has so far been provided by Nir Bitton and young Dane Murray.

At the other end of the pitch, much depends on who may be on their way out of Celtic over the next seven days, with both Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths being linked with moves away from the club.

There are suggestions that Edouard may now be willing to wait out the remaining months of his contract and knuckle down for Celtic until the end of this season, and there does appear to be a renewed vigour about the Frenchman in recent weeks. If he were to stay, he would kick the can of replacing him in the squad down the road for a while, and providing he can continue to show his quality, that would surely be welcomed by Postecoglou and supporters alike. Even if Furuhashi has now rather superseded him in their affections.

The man who looks to be in pole position to come in should Edouard depart is VVV-Venlo’s prolific striker Giorgios Giakoumakis, who Postecoglou remains keen on despite concrete interest in him from Werder Bremen. The 26-year-old scored 26 goals in 30 appearances even as his club were relegated from the Eredivisie last season.

As for Griffiths, he is currently fourth choice striker behind Furuhashi, Edouard and Albian Ajeti, and if a deal could be struck with Hibernian to bring Kevin Nisbet to the club with Griffiths going the other way in search of more regular game-time, it would surely be to his own and to Celtic’s benefit.

So, plenty of work still to do for McKay before he can switch his phone off for a while. The next week may go a long way to determining the success - or otherwise - of his and Postecoglou's first season at Celtic.