Celtic’s Champions League Play-off: O’Neill Prepares Without Late Signings
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 drama and says he would be more than content if Reo Hatate decides to stay and fight for his place.
O’Neill cools talk of late signings
With the deadline for registering players for Wednesday night looming on Tuesday, O’Neill poured cold water on hopes of a last-minute arrival.
Asked if he expected any additions, he admitted there was a “fairly decent chance of nothing happening.”
Celtic’s summer business has already brought in Camilo Duran and Kasper Hogh, both of whom have started brightly, while Mika Baur and Haissem Hassan are more recent recruits. The squad, for now, looks largely set.
One key departure has already shaped O’Neill’s thinking. Arne Engels was sold to West Ham at the weekend, leaving a sizeable gap in midfield just as Celtic prepare for a high-stakes European tie.
The manager did not hide the difficulty 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.
“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. “But it’s not to be. We’ll have someone else in there.”
Baur pushed towards a starting role
Sunday’s 4-0 win at Dundee United offered a glimpse of what that “someone else” might look like. Baur stepped off the bench in the 59th minute to make his debut and did enough for O’Neill to publicly float the idea of starting him against LASK.
Circumstances push him closer to the XI. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is suspended, while Hatate has yet to play a minute this season.
“It might be Baur, I’m not sure yet,” O’Neill said. “He’s just getting to know the team.”
The German’s integration has been rapid by necessity rather than design, but Celtic may need his energy and legs to compensate for Engels’ departure.
Hatate at a crossroads
Hatate remains the other obvious option in the middle of the pitch, but his situation is more complex.
The Japan international has been an unused substitute in every game so far and has not started since a 2-0 defeat at Dundee United in April. For a player who once dominated midfields in Scotland, it marks a stark shift.
The 28-year-old, who joined Celtic in 2022 and has two years left on his contract, owns a glittering domestic record: five league titles, three Scottish Cups and two League Cups in Glasgow. Yet O’Neill did not shy away from acknowledging the dip.
“It’s been a bit of a struggle for him [of late],” the manager said. “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 transfer enquiries, O’Neill confirmed, but “nothing definitive.” The door remains open in both directions.
“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,” he added.
For now, with LASK coming to Glasgow and the Champions League within touching distance, Celtic’s story is less about who might arrive and more about who is ready to step up.
