BRENDAN Rodgers will not make an expensive marquee signing during this transfer window because Celtic won’t change their model even if there is a threat to their quest for eight titles in a row.
Oliver Burke, Timothy Weah, both on loan and Vakoun Issouf Bayo for £2million have arrived, and a right-back, perhaps Omar Elabdellaoui, a Norwegian who plays for Greek outfit Olympiakos, could follow that trio to Glasgow.
But while Rodgers was given a record £9million to sign Odsonne Edouard last summer, there will be no record spending by Celtic during this month.
Asked whether a big money transfer was a possibility, Rodgers said: “I don’t think that’s how Celtic works. The model of the club is value and maximising that value and talent and development and see it grow at the club. The young players that have come in fit that model.
“My job was to develop that, increase that talent within and hopefully they can come in and do a great job for Celtic. Whether they are loan signings or a permanent signing.”
Rodgers is hoping to make at least one more addition to his squad and perhaps more if the right player becomes available.
The perception is that Rangers have strengthened but the Celtic manager is more concerned about his own players and how they can play better – and score more goals – when the league starts up again.
Rodgers said: “Ideally we’d make more signings. I think there are still positions where we would like to get folk in. But we needed to improve the squad, there was no doubt about that.
“The second part of the season is about bringing in more of a offensive threat and giving us more options.
“In the first part of the season you could see that we were not ideal, having to play players out of position and what not. That has just been unfortunate really but bringing these guys in really supports the players already there and once we get the injured players back as well that gives us something to look forward to.”
One major positive for Rodgers is the return of Nir Bitton after missing nine months through a knee injury.
The midfielder was a key player for Celtic before being crocked and will give his manager another alternative in the centre of the park.
Rodgers said: “Nir has been great for me in my time here, I played him in a couple of position and he gives the team stability. He has presence and he’s a wonderful team player.
"It’s been a long, long road for him but he’s back in training and working and he’s had a good week here so far.
“When he gets up to speed that will be a real positive player for us. He doesn’t always get the credit that he deserves. He’s a really influential player for us.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel