The Celtic board have been warned that Martin O'Neill won't put up with delays to transfer business for much longer.
The Hoops are just days away from beginning their Scottish title defence with the Premiership season beginning next weekend - with Flag Day at Celtic Park taking place on August 3 when Dundee arrive in Glasgow's East End.
Celtic have only brought in one new recruit so far with Camilo Duran joining from Qarabag - while key man Daizen Maeda is set to leave within the next 48 hours for Ipswich Town.
O'Neill faces fan backlash
O'Neill has fronted up for the lack of business so far with the 74-year-old facing a pre-season grilling over the lack of business - with angry fans staying away from the pre-season clash with Middlesborough last weekend.
And ahead of Saturday's friendly clash with Milan, Cillian Sheridan reckons that the Parkhead icon could reach a breaking point if there is a lack of deals by the time the crucial Champions League playoff rolls around.
The Glasgow giants will compete in the playoff first leg on either August 18 or 19 with an opponent yet to be decided - but after last season's Kairat Almaty calamity former Hoops' striker Sheridan is getting a feeling of deja vu.
Sheridan: Structure is the problem
He told the BBC's Scottish football podcast: "One thing I have noticed is that any player that they are linked with, or there is chat about - the Bodo/Glimt striker [Hogh] and Duran, that they have brought in. They are players that they have looked at before."
"It kind of goes back to nobody being in as Head of Recruitment, nobody in charge of looking for players and doing the signings."
"I just get the feeling they are going back to players and transfer targets that were in place from previous windows. It does seem to be players that have been linked before. I just think the biggest problem at the minute seems to be the structure of how it's all happening."
"There is no real Head of Recruitment. Motherwell have a system in place - if there is a manager there or not, they are signing players based on a style of play they want to play, and a manager can come in a coach the players that are there."
"I kind of thing that is the modern model, and I think Celtic are putting themselves under a lot of pressure. I don't know how much longer Martin O'Neill will go along with it, I think it's going to have to get to the stage where something will have to happen."
He added: "We don't even know if Callum McGregor is going to be there - and that is on top of everything that hasn't happened."
"They are just putting themselves under enormous amounts of pressure. It's almost a carbon copy of last season, but actually probably worse. Everyone though they aren't going to make the same mistakes as last season with the Champions League qualifier, but it's going towards the same crash."
"The longer it has gone on, you are kind of looking at Brendan Rodgers exit and his silence - it is probably all playing out the way he was alluding to."
Wyness: Nicholson could be sacrificed
Earlier this month, Celtic chief executive Michael Nicholson named the barriers facing the Glasgow heavyweights in the market - sparking a backlash from irked Parkhead punters.
And former Aberdeen CEO Keith Wyness reckons the Celtic supremo has put himself "in real trouble."
He told The Inside Track: "He's obviously been backed by the board, but he is becoming the figure that I think could be sacrificed to the fan base in some way."
"To come out saying agents' fees, I'm afraid when you've got clubs like Bodo/Glimt, Brugge, Copenhagen all shopping in the same sort of market as Celtic, if not lower, agent fees are part of the game and that's just not an excuse."
"I've had to deal with them since the early 2000s, so there's no excuse right now. You just have to get on with it, make your contacts and work with agents."
"He is right in the crosshairs of the fan base, and you've got to hope he's got something up his sleeve in terms of some signings."
"Celtic Park is not a happy place right now. Seeing the board spend some of the money they've got is what the fans have been asking for for ages."
