Ange gives Tottenham taste of Celtic transfer mantra as Riley McGree shutdown gets EPL makeover two years on

He's a man who sticks to his guns and it seems Ange Postecoglou's stance on transfer talks hasn't changed much - or at all - over the years.

The Tottenham boss recently added Radu Dragusin to his squad and that comes after Timo Werner was brought in on loan from RB Leipzig to beef up his team for the second half of the season. And the straight-talking Aussie was asked how he managed to 'sell' Spurs to two players who had other options on the table. As Celtic fans will know, though, talking players into signing has never been his style - it's almost exactly two years since he declared Riley McGree 'probably wasn't worth his time' after he decided on Middlesbrough over the Hoops.

When asked about his two most recent Tottenham signings, Postecoglou said: “I don’t try to sell anything. It’s just a conversation. With Timo too and any player I’ve signed, it’s just a conversation about what I believe and my thoughts on them as players, where I see them fitting in.

“And trying to create a picture in their heads about what they’ll encounter when they get here and what they’re trying to build and the rest is up to them. Part of the key for me is they want to come to this football club. I’m not going to bend their arm or try to convince them. Part of it is them getting excited about having to come to us.”

Postecoglou's rise to Premier League prominence has been one of the feel-good stories of European football over the last couple of years. This time two years ago - almost to the day - he was addressing the media in Scotland about a failed attempt to sign McGree who fancied Middlesbrough instead.

And his comments then were strikingly similar. “I only want players who want to be here," he said in 2022. "I won’t try to convince any