O'Neill confident Duran deal will only be start of Celtic summer signings
Martin O’Neill is anticipating Celtic's transfer business to accelerate with Camilo Duran on the verge of becoming the club's first new summer signing.
The 24-year-old has joined from Qarabag in a £6m deal; Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has signed a new contract after joining on a short-term deal in January; the Hoops kick off their Scottish Premiership title defence at home to Dundee on August 3, live on Sky Sports
Martin O’Neill is anticipating Celtic's transfer business to accelerate after Camilo Duran became the club's first new summer signing.
The 24-year-old joined the Hoops for a fee in the region of £6m following a fruitful 2025-26 campaign with Qarabag during which he scored five goals in the Champions League.
Veteran midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has agreed a new one-year deal after initially joining on a short-term contract in January, but fans are growing frustrated at the club's lack of transfer business ahead of the new season.
"We have a number of players that we're looking at," O'Neill said. "We've had a number of offers in for players as well at the same time.
"And I'm hoping in the not-too-distant future, and I mean maybe in the next couple of weeks, that we will have some really decent players at the football club to add to the very decent players we have at the football club."
The 29-year-old spent last season at Parkhead after signing a one-year deal and scored a number of key goals as the club won the Scottish Premiership title and Scottish Cup.
He is now a free agent after his contract expired and has been training on his own.
O'Neill says he is also trying to bring left-back Marcelo Saracchi back to the club after his loan from Boca Juniors last season.
The 74-year-old added that he was still looking for another goalscorer, plus a goalkeeper to compete with Viljami Sinisalo for the number one jersey.
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Chris Sutton believes Celtic may need to spend more than £50m overhauling their squad this summer if they are to retain their Premiership title and compete in the Champions League.
"Martin worked wonders last season. I didn't see Celtic winning the title from the position which he was put in on a couple of occasions," he told Sky Sports News .
"They've got the Champions League qualifier which is really important and, however exciting it was for Celtic fans to end up getting over the line last season, you can't get away from the fact that Celtic struggled at times throughout the season. Martin will be looking to, I'm sure, bring players in.
"It'll be interesting to see who goes out from Celtic. It looks like Reo Hatate will go, possibly Daizen Maeda, Arne Engels but they're big players for the team. Who are Celtic going to replace those type of players with? Celtic are possibly going to have to spend up to or more than £50m really because the squad does need a rebuild."
Celtic begin their Scottish Premiership title defence at home to Dundee on August 3, live on Sky Sports.
The Monday night fixture, which will kick-off at 7.30pm, rounds off a ground-breaking opening weekend that will see all six top-flight games shown live on Sky Sports for the first time.
