ANGE POSTECOGLOU has refused to confirm the signing of Reo Hatate, despite reports in Japan claiming a deal has been done, for fear of Covid-19 scuppering his plans.

Hatate is expected to complete a move to Celtic from J-League champions Kawasaki Frontale early in the January window, with a deal in principle understood to have been finalised.

But Postecoglou was wary of getting ahead of himself when asked how soon the player could be expected to arrive in Glasgow.

“The situation with our transfers is that it is constant and we are working through them,” Postecoglou said.

“Nothing is done yet. As I’ve always said, we live in unusual times when things aren’t straightforward. There are delays in areas.

“We haven’t concluded any deals yet, but we are working really hard to make sure we have deals in place early in the window so the ones we want to join us can do so early in the piece.

“We are working through things. Nothing has been confirmed or done.

“If I said a deal had been done, I could be proved a liar in a day’s time because something happened.”

Postecoglou has targeted getting players in as soon as he possibly can in the winter window to give the new arrivals a chance to acclimatise to their new surroundings, but he knows his plans to have them join his squad at the beginning of January may be optimistic.

“It’s probably more idealistic than realistic,” he said. “But if you shoot for the stars, they say you’ll land on the moon. So I’m pushing to get them in as early as possible in the window.

“To get them before January 2nd might be a bit of a stretch, but I do want them as soon as I can because that period before we restart could be crucial in integrating any new players we have. Rather than what happened in the summer window where the league has started while we were still signing players.

“I don’t want to be in that situation.”