Chris Sutton was impressed with Celtic’s early work in the transfer window and believed they exposed a critical mistake made by Rangers last summer.
The Bhoys have signed Ben Siegrist, Alexandro Bernabei, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jota in the last month.
It was a significant financial investment by the board in Ange Postecoglou’s squad and more players are believed to be on the way before the end of August.
For Sutton, Celtic are doing something Rangers didn’t do last summer and are now reaping the rewards.
The former Bhoys striker wrote in his Daily Record column over the weekend: “Celtic have made a £17million statement. After last season’s title win I felt it was imperative that the club build from a position of strength. Don’t sit still. Don’t rest on your laurels. Full marks so far. They’ve been blasted out of the transfer blocks with impressive investments.
“Sometimes in the football world it’s easy to throw numbers around. But to have spent that amount of money by the first Saturday in July means Celtic’s two key departments are doing extremely well. The football department with Ange Postecoglou and his recruitment teams is really on point here. The quickly identified areas and the hierarchy of the club also play their part in supporting their boss. Take his vision and fund it.”
Sutton then went on to directly compare Celtic’s quick action that year to Rangers’ inaction last year.
The outspoken pundit said: “Rangers have been criticized in some quarters for not improving in 12 months on pole and they are now paying the price, with no Premiership trophy in their cupboard and no Champions League guaranteed who they can rely on with qualifiers to negotiate .
“Postecoglou and Celtic have earned the right to have that upper hand and it has to be said they are doing everything right at this point for it to count. The manager said at the end of the season that Celtic would come back bigger and better because they never stop.
At the end of the day only Celtic can control what they do, not Rangers, but it’s nice to see us going out and getting started on our summer window targets straight away with no issues.
We’ve certainly been the busiest and boldest team in the country so far – Postecoglou really gets the players he wants in goal quicker than we’ve ever seen with the Bhoys.
Sutton reminds us at the end of his column that the window can’t really be judged until it’s closed, but for now there’s no denying we look strong compared to the competition.
In other news, Kenny Dalglish challenges the Celtic starter to “go to another level” this season.
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