Paul Hartley left stunned as the champions toil in the market while Hearts and Rangers act sharply to get deals over the line

The Scottish Premiership trophy(Image: )

Paul Hartley has warned Celtic’s slowboat transfer work could blow their title chances.

The former Parkhead ace is astounded at the club’s struggles to sign a striker and add significantly to their weak squad during this key business period.

While challengers Hearts and Rangers are doing deals, Celtic continue to fumble around the market unable to secure key signatures.

Hartley can barely believe the state of affairs and said: “It’s astounding with the size of the club and what they’ve done over the last number of years that they are still searching [for players].

“And I think getting an attacker in at this stage is going to be very difficult, who are they going to get?

“Everybody knows that they are looking at strikers, but not one striker, I think they need more than one and that’s probably been the case for more than a year now.

“You can see the frustration with Martin [O’Neill]. Every presser he’s getting asked about recruitment and they’ve been pretty slow in getting people in, but I think that’s been the case for a wee while now.

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill(Image: )

“It’s getting pretty close to the window shutting. Hearts and Rangers have acted pretty quickly in terms of getting their business done.

“I think it’s just been the case with Celtic that they’ve always been very, very slow. You saw the last window they brought the guy in, [Kelechi] Iheanacho, the day later or the last kick. It tells you where they’re at.”

Celtic are hunting a striker head of Sunday’s crunch against Hearts, but Hartley reasoned: “How do you put somebody into that type of game? The centre forward area has been a problem for them for a long time now.

“They’ve not really replaced Kyogo who left a year ago and they seem to be dashing about at the last minute to try to bring players in.

“It’s hard to get a top end striker in within 12 days. Good strikers are not available, it’s people who are not playing or out of favour. And are they going to cost a lot of money? Celtic are stuck. It wouldn’t surprise me if they brought one striker in, someone on loan, at the last minute.

“Celtic have not been playing well for a while. The squad’s obviously pretty weak in terms of the personnel.

“You can see the frustrations with the supporters also. The atmosphere at Celtic is not quite the same, not what it used to be.”

It was put to Hartley that Celtic are in danger of losing their grip as champions and he continued: “The one thing I would say is that they’ve got the experience of the manager, Martin.

“But they’re not playing well. So that’s the big thing, recruitment. They need to get players in before the end of the window. There’s no doubt about it.

“And I’m not just meaning one striker or two, I still think they’re short in other certain areas. Hearts on the other hand are a difficult kettle of fish.

Paul Hartley(Image: Jeff Holmes JSHPIX)

“I think Hearts are looking strong. You can see their home form, they’ve not been beaten in the league this season. For me, at this moment Hearts are in the driving seat.”

Celtic are scoring the globe with an eye also on the domestic market. Cove boss Hartley joined Celtic from Hearts and players such as Hibs’ Kieron Bowie.

Hartley said: “Bowie is definitely a player who has impressed me over a period of time. I’m sure the Hibs fans won’t want to hear that. He should be a player that Celtic are looking at. But I also think there are a number of good Scottish players playing in the Premier League.”

Dundee’s Luke Graham is another earning rave reviews and Hartley added: “He’s a very good young player. Centre-half, aggressive. I think he’s been linked with Aberdeen. I think sometimes you need players who know the league also.

“It’s hard to get somebody to fit in straightaway, fit into the team, fit into Scottish football.”

Paul Hartley and Barrie McKay was appearing on The Warm-Up, the William Hill SPFL’s weekly preview show. Check out the full episode here: https://www.youtube.com/@WilliamHillSPFL