Martin O'Neill said Camilo Duran should be a good addition for Celtic, but he was just as direct about the bigger picture. Duran is set to complete a £6million move to Celtic in the next 48 hours and join the squad for the pre-season camp in Portugal. The 24-year-old is due to sign a five-year deal if the medical goes through, and O'Neill said he scored 15 goals for Qarabag last season, including five in the Champions League.

O'Neill's message on Celtic's rebuild

The Celtic manager did not sound interested in treating Duran as the end of the work. "We need a few players. It's as simple as that," he said, before adding that the club still need "a number of players" and that the aim is to improve the team rather than stand still.

That lines up with the broader recruitment picture around Parkhead. Celtic are the only Premiership club yet to make a signing this summer, and Peter Grant has argued they still need two strikers, a centre-half and another midfielder. Even after a strong league campaign, that is a lot of work to leave sitting on the table.

Celtic finished top of the Premiership Championship Round with 82 points from 38 matches, and they won 26 of those league games. That makes the message from O'Neill pretty clear: one striker with a decent scoring record is useful, but it does not solve the whole window.

Squad issues around the opener

The timing is part of why this is being talked about so loudly. Duran is moving in now, but Celtic still have availability issues in the squad picture, with Cameron Carter-Vickers back after a long lay-off and Yang set to miss the September 20 Rangers showdown because of Under-23s Asian Games duty.

Carter-Vickers made his first appearance since October in the 1-1 draw with Shelbourne, a useful sign for Celtic's defence after his Achilles rupture. His recent Celtic rating of 7.7 suggests he was not easing back in just to make up the numbers.

O'Neill's point is the one that matters most. Duran may well help, and his output at Qarabag is not in doubt, but Celtic still look like a squad that needs more than one move to be properly covered for the new season.

Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →