Celtic's Champions League Preparations: O’Neill Confident in Current Squad
Martin O’Neill is preparing to go with what he’s got.
On the eve of Celtic’s Champions League play-off first leg against LASK, the manager does not expect any late transfer twists and says he would be perfectly content if Reo Hatate stays to fight for his place.
No late scramble expected
The deadline looms late on Tuesday night, but O’Neill is not braced for a frantic finish.
Asked if he anticipated any fresh faces before LASK visit Glasgow on Wednesday, he admitted there was a “fairly decent chance of nothing happening”. Celtic have already moved early in the market: summer recruits Camilo Duran and Kasper Hogh have hit the ground running, while Mika Baur and Haissem Hassan are only just through the door.
One key departure has already shaped the week. Arne Engels was sold to West Ham at the weekend, leaving a gap in the heart of midfield just as Celtic step into their biggest tie of the season so far.
O’Neill did not hide the scale of that loss, stressing the club are “still in the process of finding a replacement” and conceding it will be “hard to replace his running power” against the Austrians.
Baur in frame as Engels replacement
The first audition came quickly. Baur made his debut in Sunday’s 4-0 win at Dundee United, introduced as a 59th-minute substitute, and his timing could hardly be more important.
With Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain suspended and Hatate yet to play a minute this season, the German is suddenly a strong candidate to start in Europe.
“It would have been nice to have kept Arne for the couple of games, because he knows the players, knows his role in the team,” O’Neill said, acknowledging the disruption. “But it’s not to be. We’ll have someone else in there. It might be Baur, I’m not sure yet. He’s just getting to know the team.”
The message is clear: Celtic will not have the luxury of easing Baur in. If he gets the nod, it will be straight into a high-stakes Champions League night.
Hatate at a crossroads
Hovering over all of this is Hatate’s situation.
Once one of the most influential midfielders in Scotland, the Japan international has been reduced to watching from the bench. He has been an unused substitute in every game so far this term and has not started since a 2-0 defeat at Dundee United in April.
Now 28, Hatate joined Celtic in 2022 and still has two years left on his contract. His medal haul is substantial – five league titles, three Scottish Cups and two League Cups in Glasgow – but his recent form has dipped.
“It’s been a bit of a struggle for him [of late],” O’Neill admitted, before setting out the challenge. “What I would love Reo to do is get back to the form he showed a couple of years ago when he was one of the best players in Scotland.”
There have been enquiries about the midfielder, but, as O’Neill put it, “nothing definitive”. That could change quickly in the final hours of the window, yet the manager is equally open to a different outcome.
“If Reo wants to stay and battle for his place in the team and says he’s capable of doing it, I have no problem with that.”
So Celtic head into a pivotal European night with a squad that looks close to settled, a midfield being reshaped on the fly, and a once-key playmaker standing at a decisive moment in his Parkhead career.
