Celtic boss Ronny Deila insists his main focus in the January transfer window is to keep hold of his best players, rather than adding to his current squad.

The Scottish Premiership champions endured an up-and-down start to the campaign with Deila under pressure to deliver after replacing Neil Lennon.

The Hoops, on offer at 81.00 to win the Europa League, managed to overcome their poor opening to qualify for the last 32 of the UEFA Europa League and many fans hoped Deila would add to his squad to ensure progress in all competitions.

However, ahead of his side’s game against Ross County on Saturday, Deila has admitted his main priority is to keep hold of his current crop of players.

He said: “To keep is more important than to get in.

“Consistency is everything. If you lose your best players you have to start all over again with new relations. So to keep is my first priority and then to get players in who can make the squad better.

“We know that we don’t have to sell anybody and that is a good feeling for me and the club. We want to keep our best players.

“If we can get players in early then we will do it. But it is going to be hard to get it arranged so quickly.

The January window is more difficult than in the summer because the players you want are playing in teams who are fighting to reach their goals.

“So it is harder to get them. But we have good processes going on and, as I said, we want to be better on February 1.”