Celtic not distracted by heavy transfer talk despite imminent deals at club

Callum McGregor has stressed that transfer speculation surrounding key players in the Celtic team won’t deflect Ange Postecoglou’s team from their purpose.

Josip Juranovic, right, is one of the Celtic players whose future is under intense speculation.

The Parkhead side are seeking to overcome Kilmarnock on Saturday evening to secure a place in the Viaplay Cup final against either Rangers or Aberdeen. While they are heavy favourites to do so, they have been hit by uncertainty in the form of interest in right back Josip Juranovic and striker Giorgos Giakoumakis. The former’s performances for Croatia in the World Cup late last year have seen him linked with a move to Serie A side Monza, among others. Giakoumakis, meanwhile, was most recently reported as being a target for Bordeaux.

Both are expected to be in the squad for the Hampden clash as it stands and are expected to be as focused as any of their team-mates as Celtic seek to reach a second successive League Cup final. According to McGregor, everything else is just “noise” as far as the players themselves are concerned.

“We all understand football,” said the skipper. “There will be speculation, these things will happen. Your job as a football player is to put that to one side and focus on the job at hand. We have a really good bunch of players who are really single minded about their football. The speculation is just noise until anything happens, at which point we will deal with that as a club.

“In terms of players coming in and players going out, that is just everyday football speculation,” he added. “We have to focus on the job, which is delivering success on the pitch.”