Ange Postecoglou expects new signing Matt O’Riley to slot in quickly to his Celtic team as he gets set to lose more players for the upcoming derby against Rangers.
O’Riley joined on a four-and-a-half-year deal from MK Dons on Thursday night and the left-footed midfielder could find himself playing a big role quickly after Tom Rogic was called up for Australia duty.
The Socceroos face Vietnam on January 27 and Oman on February 1, meaning Rogic will miss games against Hearts, Dundee United and Rangers.
With Kyogo Furuhashi almost certain to miss the derby game through injury, Postecoglou could also lose all three of his recent Japanese signings for World Cup qualifiers.
So O’Riley’s arrival is a welcome boost, although the 21-year-old will not face Alloa in the Scottish Cup on Saturday.
“I’m very pleased to get him in,” Postecoglou said. “He’s a player we have scouted for quite a while. I became aware of him when I joined the club in the summer. He was one of the ones we were looking at. It didn’t quite work out then and we followed his progress this season.
“I see a lot of really good football attributes that will fit in with what we have got here, and he is also an outstanding young man who really wants to get the most out of his career, and again that will fit really well culturally here.
“It was also one we could do quickly which is important to me because it means he can come here and slide in straight away.
“I have a real clear idea of what I need and what I want and when I see it, I can picture it in our team.”
The former Australia head coach has no problem with Rogic’s call-up.
“I’m not disappointed,” he said. “He was selected for his national team because he is a hell of a player. I’d be disappointed if he wasn’t selected.
“Tom has been an outstanding servant to this football club and he’s been an outstanding servant for his national team and he wants them to go to a fourth consecutive World Cup.
“He has arguably been the best player in the competition here and I want to see him do well for the national team, not just because it’s Australia, but for all the players who get selected.”
Japan’s squad is announced this weekend with Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Yosuke Ideguchi all possibly returning to their homeland soon after making their debuts on Monday.
“They are all in the frame,” Postecoglou said. “It didn’t help that they all did well the other night and got worldwide attention. I was trying to keep that hidden.
“But I expect them to be in the frame and, again, I will be delighted if they get selected because they are players that are really ambitious and they want to get to the top of the game.”
Postecoglou added: “We have made some really strategic decisions to bolster our squad early in the window because we knew the time would come either that players would not get back on schedule or we would have absences during internationals, that we would have a squad robust enough to deal with what’s ahead, and that’s what we have got.”
Furuhashi has missed games either side of the winter break because of a hamstring problem and Celtic sought further specialist advice this week.
Postecoglou said: “We are still sort of working through that but suffice to say it’s not going to be a quick return.
“I’m reluctant to put any time frame on it, just for the player himself, I think it’s unfair that I do that, but we are still looking at a number of weeks at the moment.
“Hopefully we will get some clarity, there are still some things they want to see if it settles down, but we are looking at a number of weeks at this point.”
Postecoglou vowed to “use his squad” for the trip to face Barry Ferguson’s side in Clackmannanshire but he will be wary of the dangers after his last game in charge of Yokohama Marinos ended with defeat to fourth-tier Honda.
“I’ve been involved in cup competitions different countries and I’ve had my travels into different levels of football and I know what challenges it throws up,” he said.
“The last game I had in Japan we got knocked out by a team outside the league on penalties so I’m well aware of the potential pitfalls of not taking every game seriously.”
