Brendan Rodgers yesterday confirmed that he’s still in the market for new players. He explained that he’s happy with his current squad at the moment but will look to bring in more fresh faces before the window shuts at the beginning of September.
The Celtic manager is currently focusing on getting his side prepared for the season opener on Saturday so we shouldn’t expect any new signings this coming week.
Brendan is totally right. We have a great nucleus of players at the moment, more than enough to compete domestically. Europe is an entirely different matter, but with the group stages not kicking off until mid-September we needn’t worry about that at this moment in time.
We do need to add to our squad if we want to compete in Europe and Brendan’s comments will be warmly welcomed indeed. The end of the transfer window is usually when all the big deals get done. Teams know time is running out and usually cash in on their assets.
Brendan has no doubt got a few targets in mind and will make a move for them in the coming weeks, that I have no doubt. Whoever it is or what position they play is another matter, but don’t worry, we will strengthen before the window shuts, and that’s the main thing.
“Carl twisted his ankle, so he couldn’t travel. Hopefully he’ll be okay for Tuesday. Kobayashi will be out for a few weeks. He obviously got injured in one of the games in Japan,” the Celtic manager said, as reported by Daily Record.
“Maik Nawrocki tweaked his ankle before he trained with us, but hopefully he’ll be okay for Tuesday and hopefully Tony Ralston and Cam won’t be too far away. They’ve come back training with the squad. It was too soon for them to play. They’ll be back with us in the morning for training and then we’ll see where they’re at for Tuesday.
“I think it was important we brought some players in early on to settle them and allow them to adapt. I didn’t want to wait for people to go before bringing people in. But we’d hope we can add some more before the window shuts. Probably after (the Ross County game), there’s still a long way to go in the window.”
Brendan Rodgers was full of praise for fellow Irishman Liam Scales after his performance against Wolves in what was a makeshift back four. The Celtic manager is in no rush to let the former Shamrock Rovers defender go with Barry Robson desperate to bring Scales back to Aberdeen after a successful loan period last season.
“Liam’s excellent and I really like him. He’s an intelligent boy. He’s come over, obviously gone out to Aberdeen on loan and done really well. He’ll be at an age where he’ll want to play. But I’ve really liked him over the course of pre-season and I thought he did really well today.
“I just think you need to have a strong squad, I think that’s important when you’re a club like ourselves playing so many games. You have to make sure you have the depth there. So, it’s really good for me to see him close up both in training and the games.
“He’s done very well in the games he’s played. I would think Aberdeen are keen to have him back. I’ve obviously had a couple of conversations with Barry but we’re in no rush, I’ll just assess it and see where it is. We’ll take it from there.”
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
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With so many defenders out injured at present, still don’t believe Rodgers has been able to set up his celtic team the way he would like to yet.
With no such rumours regarding full backs still, everything suggest that Rodgers would like to set up the defence in a 3CB option, which would be far easier to do so when CCV and Johnston become available again imo.
We still should have 5 available for CL with either yuki or scales making up 6 for the CL campaign, yet it wouldn’t surprise me for us to add another if scales should be sold.
Fraser could well make up the final position available for a CL squad if Rodgers intends to go with a 343 formation which allows for wingbacks, even if Tierney would be a better option, if such a longshot still imo.