Celtic will reportedly focus on signing players in three key positions as Brendan Rodgers looks to rebuild. The Scottish Champions are currently two points behind Rangers with nine games remaining and are in the Scottish Cup Semi Final as they look to seal a Double. However, they will need to conduct a rebuild this summer.
As reported by Football Insider, Celtic will focus on three key positions – a winger, a centre forward and a new goalkeeper.
Joe Hart has already confirmed that he will retire at the end of this season meaning that Rodgers needs to bring a new No.1 into the club whilst Liel Abada’s departure to FC Charlotte in the MLS leaves Celtic lacking a high-quality goalscoring winger.
The striking position has been one that Rodgers has been keen to add to since arriving at the club. Adam Idah was Rodgers’ signing from Norwich in January; however, it is just a loan deal with no option to buy. The attacker has been impressive since signing and it is expected that the manager will look to make this deal permanent in the summer.
You would imagine that the manager will want a new left-back brought into the club to compete with Greg Taylor, too. However, that may relate to one of the deals that the manager was trying to do but couldn’t get through in January.
Last week, Rodgers told The Daily Record, that he is excited about summer transfers and he has had a chance to properly review the squad and believes that the squad will benefit from incomings in the summer.
“I’m really excited about next season, having now had a look at this group. I’ve seen players who were out for a while and I want to develop this squad.
“There’s a lot of work going on on that front. Is it a chance to put my stamp on it? Yeah, because I think we lost influential players (last summer) who make the game look different. Those players weren’t just good footballers but they were personalities.
“It’s hard when you lose that personality from the team. The guys have been great this season with everything that’s been thrown at them. But it’s about seeing what it needs, how it can develop and grow.
“I had to give guys who were here an opportunity because they’d just come off the back of a Treble-winning season. But I also know because of my experience in football – especially at clubs like Celtic – that there’s a revolving door every three or four years. Even if you’re a winning team you have to fire up the squad again. That’s something we’ll look at doing in the summer.”
Lads, even though the article is pretty true I think we should be concentrating on this season. It sounds like we have all but giving up, with a head line “summer rebuild”. We know it’s needed but let’s keep our thoughts to our self’s until then. It’s something the unmentionables would write after all they have more experience.
Don’t play into there hands.