BT Sport pundit Chris Sutton believes Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou has already lined up a replacement for Giorgos Giakoumakis.

Reports suggest that the Greek international could leave Parkhead in January after failing to agree terms on a new contract and Sutton suspects that plans to bring in a new striker are likely to be pretty advanced:

“Celtic fans have to believe that Postecoglou is well down the track with a striker and has an upgrade in the pipeline if Giakoumakis is going to be exiting the club. Look, I’m not privy to the inner goings-on inside the dressing room or the boardroom. I don’t know what is happening with a new contract or anything like that or if something has changed in the background to make it so that the Greek is available for purchase.”

“But I do know that Postecoglou is a smart individual and he’s not just going to let one of his main attacking weapons walk out of the door unless he has got an ace up his sleeve and a plan already in place and down the line.”

It has been claimed that Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors’ Cho Gue-sung is the one being targeted by Postecoglou. The Australian knows the forward well from his time in Asian football and he has had a good World Cup for South Korea.

So far, though, there has been no confirmation that talks have taken place over signing the 24-year-old ahead of the January transfer window.

The Hoops have been proactive with their recruitment, having snapped up Vissel Kobe’s Yuki Kobayashi and FC Montreal’s Alistair Johnston, but it looks as if a third could be coming in through the door very soon.