The former Arsenal and Liverpool star is a target for Celtic in free agency.
Martin O’Neill says they could lose out on a transfer target to Arsenal - as he took a dig at Paul Tisdale’s Celtic shopping list.
The head of football operations was sacked as Wilfried Nancy’s ill-fated head coach tenure resulted in a prompt sacking and former boss O’Neill’s return. He was thrust into the winter transfer window and he is still on the hunt for recruits after it, including former Arsenal and Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who is a free agent after time at Besiktas.
He’s training at Arsenal currently and Celtic boss O’Neill can see the possibility of Gunners head coach Mikel Arteta dishing out a deal, as he’s stunned the experienced campaigner remains without a club. Assessing recruitment overall at Parkhead, O’Neill admitted Tisdale’s shopping wasn’t something he was totally sold on.
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What does Martin O’Neill think of transfer business at Celtic?
Asked if Tisdale’s departure gave him more responsibility over transfers, O’Neill said: “I genuinely don’t mind. If you’re asking me honestly, I wasn’t totally convinced about the (previous) recruitment for Celtic Football Club.
“It’s still a big club, and the ambition for the football club is to play big European matches. We’ve actually turned down big big money this week (for Arne Engels from Nottingham Forest). I know it was very late in the transfer market and so getting ideal replacements in was going to be difficult, but that might show you a sign at least we’ve held onto our players.
“Did I go into the board and say ‘are you going to stop this?’ No, I didn’t, they stopped it themselves, so they’ve got to get some credit for that. I’m a football manager, so satisfaction and football management never go together. But I am happy, I’m happy with what we’ve done. I needed to supplement the squad and I wanted to try and – if we can, like anything else – bring in a bit of quality.
Why was Aberdeen vs Celtic called off?
“Getting quality at this time, with the sort of thing you’re looking for, is still particularly difficult. We were speaking to Oxlade-Chamberlain, and I think he’s training at Arsenal at this moment and Arsenal may even offer him a contract if that’s the case.
“At 32 I was astonished he hadn’t been picked up, he was talking about his difficulties out in Turkey. But someone of that sort of experience would have been great. It may still happen because he’s out of contract, but he will have a number of options probably closer to home. If that materialised, that would give us something.”
The interview by Sky Sports was aired as Celtic’s midweek Premiership clash at Aberdeen was called off due to a waterlogged pitch at Pittodrie A statement from the Dons reads: “Our match this evening against Celtic has been postponed. Following an inspection by one of the match officials he has called the game off in the interests of player safety. Details for the re-arranged match will be published in due course.”
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