Aberdeen midfielder Niall McGinn believes the Dons will get even closer to Celtic next year if manager Derek McInnes is given the money to sign up to five new players.
Celtic secured a fifth successive title yesterday with a 3-2 victory against the Dons thanks to a Patrick Roberts double and an early second-half goal from Mikael Lustig.
McGinn and Andrew Considine reduced the deficit but Ronny Deila’s men clung on for the win which confirmed their status as Scottish Premiership champions.
The Dons have been Celtic’s nearest challengers, but are 12 points behind the Hoops after yesterday’s loss.
But McGinn believes it is possible to close the gap if manager McInnes can strengthen and said: “We have a good squad of players but we maybe need to add three, four or five more.
“It has been a long season, especially after coming back early for European football. We probably need to have more players to come on from the bench with the ability to change a game.
“That would also allow the manager to rotate the squad and give players a rest when needed.
“We need a few additions and I know the manager will be ready to do that. There has been a bit of frustration with how this season has ended, but we have to be realistic as we have had some great results and played some good football.
“We want to finish the season on a high with two wins. The supporters have been brilliant and stuck by us through thick and thin. We want to return the faith they have put in us by closing out the season with good performances.”
McGinn felt yesterday’s defeat summed up Aberdeen’s season with his side matching the Hoops for long spells but ultimately leaving Parkhead without anything to show for their efforts.
He said: “It was very frustrating. We were excellent in the second half apart from in the first five minutes when they scored.
“That was the killer but we showed great character to come back in the second half.
“If we had played for another 10 minutes I think we would have taken something from the game.
“That is the spirit we have, but the bottom line is we need to keep clean sheets as we will always create chances to score goals.
“We wanted to get three points but came up short.”