Celtic's Martin O'Neill Prepares for Champions League Play-off Against LASK

Martin O'Neill does not expect any late transfer drama before Celtic step back into Champions League territory on Wednesday – and he is more than open to Reo Hatate staying to fight for his place.

Celtic host LASK in the first leg of their play-off, but the manager is braced for a quiet end to the window rather than a frantic scramble.

Asked if he anticipated any new faces arriving before Tuesday night’s deadline, O’Neill was blunt: there is a “fairly decent chance of nothing happening”.

That stance comes despite the weekend sale of Arne Engels to West Ham, a departure that has left a noticeable gap in Celtic’s midfield engine room. O’Neill admitted the club are “still in the process of finding a replacement” and underlined what they have lost by letting the Belgian go, stressing it will be “hard to replace his running power” against the Austrians.

The timing is far from ideal. A Champions League play-off demands rhythm and familiarity, and Engels ticked both boxes.

“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 said. “But it’s not to be. We’ll have someone else in there.”

That “someone else” could well be Mika Baur. The German midfielder made his debut off the bench in Sunday’s 4-0 win at Dundee United, coming on after 59 minutes, and O’Neill hinted he is in line to start with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain suspended and Hatate yet to kick a ball this season.

“It might be Baur, I’m not sure yet. He’s just getting to know the team,” O’Neill added, leaving the door slightly ajar but clearly nudging the 21-year-old towards a bigger role.

Baur is part of a broader summer refresh. Camilo Duran and Kasper Høgh have both started brightly, while Baur and Haissem Hassan are more recent arrivals as O’Neill reshapes his options without overhauling the core.

The more intriguing subplot sits with Hatate.

The Japan international, once a central figure in Celtic’s midfield, has been reduced to an unused substitute so far this term and has not started a game since a 2-0 defeat at Dundee United in April. Now 28, he joined the club in 2022 and still has two years left on his contract, with a medal haul that underlines how influential he once was: five league titles, three Scottish Cups and two League Cups in Glasgow.

“It’s been a bit of a struggle for him [of late],” O’Neill admitted, a stark assessment of a player who, not long ago, was among the most admired in the country. “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 about Hatate, O’Neill confirmed, but “nothing definitive”. The possibility of a late move lingers in the background, yet the manager made it clear he will not push the midfielder out of the door.

“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 week with a squad that looks, for now, largely set. No big-name arrival is expected to walk through the door before LASK arrive in Glasgow. The real question is whether one of their existing talents, Reo Hatate, chooses to walk back into the spotlight.