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Postecoglou tells midfield trio they are free to leave

By Graeme Croser

ANGE POSTECOGLOU has confirmed that his fringe midfield trio of James McCarthy, Yosuke Ideguchi and Oliver Abildgaard are all free to leave Celtic this week.

While the Parkhead boss has not ruled out adding to his four January signings ahead of Tuesday’s transfer deadline, his focus has turned to trimming his squad.

Signed on a four-year deal 18 months ago, former Everton and Republic of Ireland star McCarthy, 32, has failed to make an impact and has not started since Boxing Day 2021.

Ideguchi arrived last January alongside Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate but while his compatriots have been regular contributors, the 26-year-old started once at Alloa last January and has not been sighted this season.

Dane Abildgaard, recruited on loan from Rubin Kazan, failed to stake a claim for a midfield role even when captain Callum McGregor was out injured.

‘Those three guys, they are at an age where the less football they play, the fewer options they will have,’ said Postecoglou (below). ‘They have to assess what’s best for their careers.

‘It’s not about forcing people out but there is a realism in terms of how much opportunity you get to play.

‘I’m in dialogue with them and we will see what happens in the last days of the window.

‘If nothing happens, then they are still part of our group and we will work with them accordingly.’

Closer still to the exit door is Giorgos Giakoumakis with Atlanta United and Urawa Red Diamonds maintaining a live interest in acquiring the Greek.

Already departed is defender Moritz Jenz.

Recruited on loan from French side Lorient, Jenz was a regular for Postecoglou in the early part of the season and featured in all six of Celtic’s Champions League matches.

Carl Starfelt’s subsequent return from injury limited the German’s game time and with Yuki Kobayashi recruited at the turn of the year, Jenz has now joined Schalke on a deal to the end of the season.

‘I thought Moritz did really well for us,’ continued Postecoglou. ‘He hadn’t played a lot over the second half of the year in France and we picked him up.

‘The idea was to bring him into the environment, so we got him on a loan with an option to buy.

‘I thought he did well for us but obviously as the season went on I was really keen to bring in Yuki Kobayashi, who I had been tracking as a left-sided centre-back. ‘Once we got that deal done, it meant that there was going to be limited opportunities for someone like Moritz. ‘Because he was on loan and we couldn’t make a decision on whether we would trigger the clause to buy him, it made sense to have a discussion with him.

‘We said that if another opportunity came up that was going to be good for his career, then we wouldn’t stand in his way.

‘I think he loved his time here. He contributed to our football and he had some great experiences including Champions League. Hopefully his career continues to progress.’

Kobayashi has been joined by Tomoki Iwata, Alistair Johnston and Oh Hyeongyu this month. All four could feature in today’s Premiership fixture at Dundee United and, while Postecoglou has no obvious gaps in his squad, he has not ruled out adding another this week.

He said: ‘We will see. There are still five days to go and we are always alert. If anything comes up we’ll see what happens.’

Postecoglou will welcome back Cameron Carter-Vickers and Greg Taylor for today’s match, while ex-United keeper Benjamin Siegrist is also available following an injury absence from the squad.

Postecoglou added: ‘At a stretch, we could have used Greg last week but he is now ready to go, as is Cameron Carter-Vickers. They and Benjy Siegrist have had a full week of training.

‘The only one still in rehab is Tony Ralston. Again, we are quite hopeful he will be ready to rejoin the group over the next week or so.’

Football

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2023-01-29T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-01-29T08:00:00.0000000Z

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