Celtic open transfer talks over £5m swoop for Mario Vuskovic as they close in on Hajduk Split star
ANGE POSTECOGLOU jetted in on Wednesday to start work as Celtic boss — as the Hoops stepped up their bid for £5million defender Mario Vuskovic.
Celts scouts watched the Hajduk Split kid, 19, several times last season.
Australian Postecoglou’s appointment has sparked Celtic back into action and SunSport understands they have started talks with the Croatian club.
Split chiefs have already decided their star defender will be sold this summer, with Italian club Torino also interested.
Vuskovic could now become Postecoglou’s first signing of a huge Parkhead rebuild.
After stepping off the plane from London, the former Yokohama F Marinos boss admitted setting foot in Scotland finally made him feel like the Hoops job is his.
Postecoglou said: “It’s great to be here. It’s been a tough three weeks to get here, but I’m super happy now.
“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind and I knew it wouldn’t sink in that I’m the new Celtic manager until I got here.
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“Now I can get cracking and start working.
“I got to meet everyone and put everything in place that we need to. It’s been fantastic.
“I already had some familiarity with it, but it’s a great set-up.
“The people here are fantastic and I’m looking forward to working with everyone.
“Everyone keeps warning me about the weather, but it all looks pretty beautiful at the moment.”
Postecoglou has been working remotely since being appointed as boss.
He said: “I’m not a fan of Zoom, even though it’s been our existence for 18 months, so I was keen to get up here as soon as possible.
“I had to quarantine and make sure we followed all the protocols, but being here now is exactly where I wanted to be.
“Ultimately, people want to get to know me.
“It’s one thing to have ideas and talk about what you want, but people need to meet me and understand me as a person as much as a manager.
“You can’t do that unless you meet people in person and we’ll start that process now.”
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Meanwhile, Celts striker Leigh Griffiths hopes to sign a new contract in the coming days.
SunSport understands the two parties are in talks over a restructured deal that will keep the 30-year-old at Celtic Park.
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Griffiths said: “I’m out of contract at the end of the month, but I spoke to the manager last week. He phoned me and said, ‘I am keen to work with you, I know what you can do’.
“He wants me to get back to the player that I once was.
“We’re looking for a deal and hopefully it can be done in the next few days. It feels like a fresh start with the new manager.”
Former Hoops boss Neil Lennon has questioned whether Griffiths would ever get back to his best.
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But the hitman added: “It’s up to me to prove wrong him and everyone else writing me off.”
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