Celtic Manager Martin O’Neill Prepares for Champions League Play-off
Martin O’Neill is preparing to go with what he’s got.
The Celtic manager does not expect any late business before Wednesday night’s Champions League play-off first leg against LASK at Celtic Park, despite the clock ticking towards Tuesday’s deadline and a key midfielder already out the door.
Asked if he anticipated movement in the market, O’Neill was blunt: there is a “fairly decent chance of nothing happening”.
Engels gone, replacement still to find
That stance comes just days after Arne Engels was sold to West Ham, a departure that strips Celtic of one of their most energetic runners in the middle of the park.
O’Neill made no attempt to dress it up. The club, he said, are “still in the process of finding a replacement” and he admitted 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 reflected. “But it’s not to be. We’ll have someone else in there.”
The question now is who.
New boys step forward
Summer signings Camilo Duran and Kasper Hogh have already made bright starts in green and white, offering early encouragement that the recruitment has not stood still.
Mika Baur and Haissem Hassan are the latest through the door. Baur, the 19-year-old German, made his debut as a 59th-minute substitute in Sunday’s 4-0 win at Dundee United and did enough to thrust himself into the conversation for a starting role.
With Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain suspended and Engels gone, the gap in midfield is obvious. O’Neill hinted Baur could be thrown in from the start against LASK, but kept just enough back to retain an element of doubt.
“It might be Baur, I’m not sure yet. He’s just getting to know the team,” he said, leaving the door open for another, more familiar name.
Hatate at a crossroads
Reo Hatate remains the great unknown in this Celtic midfield puzzle.
The Japan international has yet to play a minute this season. He has not started a game since a 2-0 defeat at Dundee United in April and has been reduced to the role of unused substitute in recent weeks.
For a player who once lit up Scottish football, it marks a stark change of pace. Hatate, 28, joined Celtic in 2022 and has two years left on his contract. His honours list in Glasgow is formidable: five league titles, three Scottish Cups and two League Cups.
Yet O’Neill did not hide the fact that the midfielder has been struggling.
“It’s been a bit of a struggle for him [of late],” the manager admitted. “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 enquiries over Hatate’s situation, O’Neill confirmed, though “nothing definitive” so far. That could still change before the window closes, but the manager sounded equally content with the alternative.
“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.”
So Celtic head into a pivotal European night with no guarantee of reinforcements, one key runner sold, and a former star at a career crossroads. For O’Neill, the answers will have to come from inside the dressing room, not from the transfer market.
