Celtic star quizzed on transfer stance as dressing-room welcomes fixture decision

The defending Premiership champions have so far spent £17 million on forwards Kasper Hogh and Camilo Duran, and are linked with Frosinone winger Fares Ghedjemis plus midfielder Mika Baur of Paderborn.

Manager Martin O’Neill wants some reinforcements before Celtic’s Champions League play-off against LASK of Austria and Carter-Vickers echoed his boss’ stance that arrivals would enhance the club’s prospects.

"It's always good to have additions,” said the centre-half. “I think new players definitely bring a new energy to the group and give you that boost as a group of players.

"I can only speak about the players that are here. I think everyone here plays an important part. We're a very together group. I think that was kind of proved last season. All we can do as players is work with the players we have and that's what we do.

“Obviously you're aware of it [the noise around recruitment]. I'm not going to say you're not. But, again, we're a very close group and for us we just focus on the players that are in the building and trying to do the best we can.”

Carter-Vickers has welcomed the free domestic weekend which could help Celtic negotiate their way into the lucrative Champions League this year.

The costly and shock exit to Kazakhstan side Kairat Almaty in the play-offs last season following two goalless draws and a penalty shoot-out defeat still haunts the Scottish champions.

Celtic beat Livingston 3-0 in the Premiership between the two games against the Kazakh outfit but the Parkhead club will do things differently this season as they look to get past LASK in the play-offs.

Mass postponements from Scottish clubs in Euro quest

Indeed, all five Scottish teams in European competitions have opted to postpone their league matches scheduled for Saturday, August 22, and the Hoops game against St Johnstone in Perth, originally scheduled to split the two crucial Euro games, will be moved to allow Martin O’Neill to focus on LASK.

Carter-Vickers, 28, said: “This is a key fixture. It’s key to how your season’s going to play out. It’s definitely an important game and I do see that (fixture rescheduling) as positive.

“We’re ready. We found out who we’re playing. I think any game we had would have been a tough tie for us. We’re looking forward to it and we’ll go in there with positivity.”

Asked about any lessons that could be taken from last season’s matches against Kairat Almaty, the USA international said: “Score a goal. I’m joking. Obviously, we know whoever you get in the qualifiers will be a tough tie.

“So, we’ve got to go there, first at home and do our best to win the game and then try and go away and get the result we want.”

An Achilles problem kept Carter-Vickers sidelined from late October but he returned to the Hoops’ defence in the 1-0 league win over Dundee at Parkhead on Monday night. The USA international felt good to be back in action after such a long absence.

He said: “Obviously, pre-season I only played 60 minutes. So the last 15, 20 there was difficult. But yeah, it’s good to be back in competitive games.

“I probably missed about eight, nine months of football. It’s never going to be quick to get back to kind of exactly where you want to be. But it’s a work in progress and I’m feeling pretty good.

“Obviously good result, three points, that’s all we were after. I thought we probably could have scored a few more goals with the chances that we had. So yeah, first game of the season, something to build on and keep trying to improve.”