Ronny Deila insists he wants leaders like Scott Brown and Virgil van Dijk in his Atlanta United team as he continues to be linked with a move for Kyogo Furuhashi.
The Japanese ace has been at the centre of transfer speculation about a £10 million move to the MLS, with former Hoops boss Deila reportedly leading the race to sign him.
This week, the MLS even posted, then deleted, a bizarre announcement on social media that Atlanta had swooped to sign Kyogo as a Designated Player.
And Deila, who is preparing to start pre-season with his new club, underlined the types of character he wants at Atlanta, having worked with some top former players.
He said: "It’s easy to say Virgil van Dijk and Martin Odegaard, but I think also Scott Brown at Celtic and Hans Vanaken at Club Brugge were fantastic. Scott Brown was special.
"I feel that I should work with people and be a part of their development. That’s what we need, we need those players and then it’s my job to get them to that environment that they go every day thinking about getting better.
"If they don’t want to get better, they have nothing here to do. I can accept mistakes, but in three months you don’t need to make the same mistakes you did yesterday.
"If the club has a fantastic 20-year-old, you don’t sign a player in front of him. I don’t care what kind of age you are, I played Martin Odegaard and he was 15.
"I'm looking for players with drive."
