Brendan Rodgers held a short pitch-side post-match media conference at Somerset Park last night after the friendly match against Scott Brown’s Ayr United ended honours even with a 1-1 draw with both sides finding the back net via the penalty spot in the first half.
Kyogo, incidentally took the spot kick and tucked it away efficiently enough, perhaps this will sort out one problem area for next season and will also help Kyogo get his goal tally up too?
It was near enough a complete change of Celtic personnel for the second half and the large Celtic support got the chance to see most of the top Academy stars in action, with Brendan pointing out that the 9000 plus crowd at Somerset Park – on a night where there were two massive matches live on TV from Euro 2024 – will have been the biggest crowd many of these bhoys will have played in front of. Bosum Lawall looked the stand-out and both young goalkeepers looked decent enough, with one likely to be the third choice for the first team this season.
🗣️ “We could have had nine players in by now if we wanted! It is all about the right players to improve the squad. Sometimes that takes a bit of patience.”
Brendan Rodgers on Celtic’s transfer plans, including questions on Adam Idah & Kasper Schmeichel ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/pT7WpVmFCX
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) July 5, 2024
Addressing the lack of transfer deals concluded so far in the summer window Rodgers asked for patience and hinted at imminent arrivals, in a fingers crossed fashion.
“Of course, we would want to get them in sooner rather than later. But it’s a two-way thing so hopefully we can get them done in the coming weeks. Would we like to get some in before America? That’s the plan. I think every manager would like them in on the first day but what’s most important is the players we want are targeted.
“We know what we want to bring in to improve the squad and I’m sure over the coming weeks we’ll conclude the deals and get us stronger for next season. We could have had nine players in by now if we wanted but it’s all about the right players. There’s no point in us doing anything other than that, and sometimes that takes a little bit of patience.
“In the world nowadays, where everything’s immediate, everyone thinks you can do it straight away but it’s not always the case. There’s always a collaboration between ourselves and another club to get the players that we want.
“But I’m very hopeful that come the end of the window, we’ll have a really strong squad and be ready and prepared for an exciting season,” the Celtic manager said.
Specifically on the Adam Idah pursuit, with Celtic being in contact with Norwich last week, Brendan was giving nothing away. “Adam’s a Norwich player so I’m not in the mood to be talking about players at other clubs.”
The replacement for Joe Hart is still a wait and see with fingers crossed scenario for the Celtic support.
“Goalkeeper is one of the areas we need to improve and we’ve known that since Joe said he was leaving. But we aim to have that hopefully done by the beginning of the season. There are loads of names flying about so just a good one would be nice,” Brendan joked.
In terms of outgoings there was an update of Korean striker Oh who led the line last night in the second half. “There’s some interest in Oh so we’ll assess that. Let’s see what the coming days bring.”
On the early injury concern over Polish defender Maik Nawrocki and Gustaf Lagerbielke’s omission from the squad Celtic took down to Somerset Park, the Celtic manager gave this update: “Maik felt something in his calf so we’ll just have to see what that is tomorrow. Gus had a twist on his ankle and knee in training so he’s probably going to be a week out.”
Next up for Celtic is a match back in Glasgow against Queen’s Park on Wednesday evening at the City Stadium and like last night’s 1-1 draw Somerset Park, that one will be live on Celtic TV.
🗣️ “We could have had nine players in by now if we wanted! It is all about the right players to improve the squad. Sometimes that takes a bit of patience.”
Brendan Rodgers on Celtic’s transfer plans, including questions on Adam Idah & Kasper Schmeichel ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/pT7WpVmFCX
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) July 5, 2024
