BORO IN LATE McGREE MOVE

of December. Capped seven times, countryman Postecoglou was the first to draft the playmaker into the national team set-up and took a handson role in persuading him to consider a move to Glasgow. Celtic have already secured Japanese trio Reo Hatate, Yosuke Ideguchi and Daizen Maeda as well as young Irish striker Johnny Kenny from Sligo Rovers. Meanwhile, Postecoglou has given Giorgos Giakoumakis his resounding backing despite the Greek’s underwhelming start to life at Celtic. A £2.5m summer signing from VVV-Venlo after finishing top scorer in the Netherlands’ top flight last year, the forward has scored just once in eight appearances after an injuryinterrupted period. Speaking on Greek TV, however, Postecoglou said his belief in the former AEK Athens player was undiminished and that he was sure he’d come good in the long run. ‘I believe in him,’ said the Celtic boss, who added that the 27-year-old had been ‘a bit unlucky’ since his arrival at Parkhead. ‘He had a great season with Venlo and Celtic is a great opportunity for his career. You saw what happened with (Georgios) Samaras.’ Postecoglou was less fulsome in his backing for Vasilis Barkas, though, with the Greek keeper having struggled since moving to Glasgow in a £5m deal from AEK 18 months ago. Barkas came in from the cold to play against St Johnstone on Boxing Day but that was only because Joe Hart and Scott Bain were unavailable. Opening the door to a possible move, Postecolgou added: ‘He is a hard worker. He tried to settle. It was difficult with the Covid situation. But he is a hard worker. We will see what will happen at Celtic or elsewhere.’ Postecoglou became the first Australian manager to win a trophy in Europe in December when Celtic beat Hibs to lift the Premier Sports Cup. On what drives him to succeed at the club, he said: ‘I came to Celtic to win trophies. I want to build a team to win trophies. We all know the club’s history. I had a Kenny Dalglish poster in my room.’ Celtic, meanwhile, have beefed up their sports science department by landing former Benfica analyst Antoine Ortega. Frenchman Ortega worked as a consultant for the Portuguese giants and has now secured a visa to move to Glasgow to assist with player recruitment and opposition analysis.