Ange Postecoglou has admitted his frustrations over the wait to see Kyogo Furuhashi in a Celtic shirt.
The J-League top scorer said his goodbyes to Vissel Kobe yesterday but the £4.5million star signing will not be in Glasgow for at least another week due to a combination of medical checks, a work permit and a period of quarantine.
The Hoops boss will attempt to navigate Tuesday night’s second-round first-leg Champions League qualifier against Midtjylland without the attacking spark of the 26-year-old and Postecoglou insists it’s a far from ideal scenario as he looks to bolster his squad.
He said: “It’s not just about signing players, it’s how we can get them in.
“It’s a ten-day to two-week process so that’s the challenging part at the moment, we’re not able to get people in quick enough.
“It’s just the world we live in. If we could get on a plane, go over there and do the signing.
“We’d all be taking photos and we’d be unveiling him here today. Unfortunately nothing like that happens any more.
“We are working on multiple fronts.
“It’s pretty clear we need to bring players in. That’s not an easy process but we are working hard, hopefully in the next week.”
The Australian took charge of the side for the first time at Parkhead in a 1-0 friendly loss to English Championship side Preston but it was a display which wasn’t to the 55-year-old’s liking.
A second half penalty settled the contest which also allowed new signing Liel Abada to make his debut and Postecoglou admits he was pleased to give his winger a late runout.
He said: “He literally just met everyone yesterday. I just put him out there to get a feel for it and get to know the players.
“It’s about letting him get to know us and vice versa. We’ve been working hard to get the team ready.
“We will use the next two days to finalise our plans and hopefully we can put a good performance in on Tuesday.”
Postecoglou handed starts to a scattering of youngsters against Preston and he didn’t feel the side's performance as a whole was up to scratch.
He said: “It wasn’t a great game for us but the players worked hard as they have been in training.
“We have deliberately put a lot of work into them. I guess there is an element of fatigue there and they are going into games not feeling 100 per cent. That’s part of the process but it wasn’t great – we didn’t get a grip on the game and struggled through.”
Postecoglou also blanked talk of a possible departure of Kris Ajer to Brentford and insists his focus is only on players who want to remain at the club.
He said: “I’m not thinking about that stuff. The guys who are going to leave will leave, that’s not my department. I’m concentrating on what’s in front of me.
“He wasn’t involved today. I’m concentrating on the ones who are involved.
“I can’t afford to waste time on anyone other than the ones who are here and committed to being here.”
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