ANGE Postecoglou tonight expressed confidence the injury that forced Odsonne Edouard to leave the field during Celtic’s pre-season friendly with Charlton Athletic in Wales today won’t rule him out of the Champions League qualifier with Midtjylland.

French striker Edouard came on in the second-half of the match at Dragon Park in Newport and helped the Parkhead club to record a narrow 2-1 victory over their English League One opponents.

The 23-year-old, who netted 22 times in the 2020/21 campaign, was replaced by youngster Scott Robertson towards the end of the match.

However, Postecoglou, whose team play in the first leg of their second qualifying round double header against Midtjylland of Denmark in Glasgow on Tuesday week, is unconcerned about the forward’s fitness. 

“He just felt his quad a bit tight,” said the Greek-Australian coach. “I was speaking to him there and I don’t think it is anything serious. It was just a precaution for him. He probably wanted to make sure he didn’t do any real damage to it.”

Asked if Edouard would play against Bristol City on Wednesday night, he said: “We will see. It’s too early to tell. I’m hoping it’s more precautionary, but we will see.”

Postecoglou - who stated that Kristoffer Ajer and Tom Rogic, who didn’t feature against either Sheffield Wednesday in midweek or Charlton yesterday, may be able to take part in the Bristol game – is optimistic of adding more new signings to his squad “in the next few days”.

The former Australia manager has been linked with a raft of targets, including Bologna left back Aaron Hickey, Hajduk Split defender Mario Vuskovic, Rubin Kazan centre half Carl Starfelt and former West Brom winger Kyle Edwards, this week.

“We are trying to get some players in and hopefully get some deals done,” he said. “We need some players to come in because we lost a fair few from last year. It is not an easy process at the moment, but we are pushing hard and hopefully we will get some in the next few days.”

Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths is being investigated by Police Scotland over alleged improper online behaviour and left the pre-season training camp earlier this week. But Postecoglou insisted that bringing in another forward is not a priority.

“We need players in a number of positions, it’s not just one,” he said. “Even looking at those who have gone from last season, purely on numbers, we need players.” 

Asked if Celtic had received any bids for their players, Postecoglou said: “To be honest I am not as focused on outgoings as I am on incoming. Incoming is where my pure focus is at the moment. I can’t control who leaves, what I can control and push for is to bring people in.

“I’m focused on a couple of key areas – working on the players we have here and trying to get players in.  I guess it will come down to whether players want to be a part of this or not. Some of them may have made up their minds already. 

“I’m not here to plead our case at the moment. If people want to be part of it I’m happy to include them.  My focus is on those who will stay. It’s a day to day process. 

“You’ve got to remember I have only work been working with these players for five or six days. The starting XI for Midtjylland will probably only be decided the day before. We still have a lot of work to do.”

Celtic don’t currently have a head of recruitment – Nick Hammond left his post as head of football operations back in March – and there has been speculation the Parkhead club will appoint a director of football.

But Postecoglou said: “Again, that’s not where my focus is. There are literally only 24 hours in the day and I’m spending them on the things I think will help us in the short term. There is a time and a place for those kind of discussions and that time is not now.”

The Celtic manager put on Olivier Ntcham, who has been tipped to join AEK Athens in Greece, in the second-half and stressed he has been pleased with the French midfielder’s application levels during pre-season.

“I had chats with him and he said he wanted to come back and make an impression this year,” he said. “I take that at face value. He has been good at training. Today was his first game in quite a while. He is lacking a bit of match touch and fitness, but he is part of the squad and hopefully he can make an impact this year.”

Boli Bolingoli, who was loaned to Istanbul Basaksehir in Turkey last season after breaking Covid-19 regulations, hasn’t been involved in any pre-season matches, but Postecoglou stressed the left-sided Belgian player will be given a chance to prove his worth if he wants to remain at Celtic.

“Boli is training well,” he said. “He was due to play today but he picked up a bit of a niggle. We are hoping it won’t keep him out for too long, maybe two or three days. 

“While they are here, they have all got a future. I can’t control who wants to stay and who wants to leave. If people don’t want to stay that’s fine. But anyone who is here at the moment, I will treat them as part of the group and give everyone an opportunity to be part of where we are heading.”