Ange happy with squad as Starfelt gets set to return
CELTIC boss Ange Postecoglou last night confirmed that Swedish defender Carl Starfelt will return to full training this week.
The centre-back sustained a hamstring injury playing for his country against Slovenia in June, the last act of a long season in which he was a mainstay for the Premiership champions.
The 27-year-old (below) has not featured in any of Celtic’s pre-season matches this summer and is highly unlikely to be available for next weekend’s league opener against Aberdeen.
‘We’re hoping he’ll join in training at some point this week,’ said Postecoglou after watching his team complete its pre-season schedule with a win over Norwich City. ‘He’s in the last stages and doing all the physical stuff away from the group.
‘So knock on wood, he’s passed every stage and the handover to the football department should happen in the next week.
‘Hopefully within a week or two he’s ready to go.’
Stephen Welsh partnered Cameron Carter-Vickers in Starfelt’s absence and there was also a first outing for new signing Moritz Jenz.
A left-sided centreback, Jenz appeared as a second-half substitute and impressed during a half-hour run-out.
Aaron Mooy, who also arrived in midweek, played out the final 12 minutes in midfield but remains well short of match fitness.
‘It’s a big occasion when you make your home debut, so I wanted to give them that experience today,’ added the Celtic boss.
‘Moritz has had a pre-season and he looked good and comfortable out there. Aaron’s not, but the point of the experience today was to give him the matchday experience.
‘I know what Aaron’s like and he won’t take too long to get up to speed.’
Goals from Daizen Maeda and David Turnbull sealed a 2-0 win that rounded off Celtic’s pre-season preparations with a shut-out for goalkeeper Joe Hart.
‘I don’t get too excited about clean sheets,’ insisted Postecoglou.
‘What’s more important is whether we defend well. We had to defend some set-pieces today and that’s part of what we know we have to face, particularly in the Premiership.
‘We’re working hard in training, so we’re not going into games wondering if the players are going to be fine.
‘In all our games we’ve shown a few bright spots, but today was probably the most solid we’ve been both with the ball and without it.
‘Hopefully we’ll see the team being in a much better position to play with the sort of high-tempo intensity that we want.’
Aside from the signings of Jenz and Mooy, Postecoglou has added Alexandro Bernabei and
Benjamin Siegrist to the group that won last season’s title.
The conversion of the loan transfers of Jota, CarterVickers and Maeda means Postecoglou has technically signed seven players this summer but his recruitment work is unlikely to end there.
He said: ‘We are still active and alert and still looking at some possibilities to strengthen in a couple of areas.
‘It has to be the right player with the right profile. While the window’s open, there’s always stuff happening, incoming and outgoing. What’s important is that we have a team of players who are ready to go.
‘Last season we showed our ability to play games out strongly and that was due to having a strong bench.
‘We have another eight days of solid work on the training ground.
‘Our whole recruiting process so far has been about making our squad robust.
‘If we had some fragility last season, then it was around the fact it was too much of a burden on the individuals and we ended up breaking down and losing key players for large chunks of the season.
‘So we want to avoid that this season. In many respects we got away with it last season.’