BRENDAN Rodgers, who strengthened his squad with the capture of former German international Marvin Compper on Wednesday, has admitted he will be looking to move players on during the January transfer window.
The arrival of Compper, the 32-year-old defender who has joined from RB Leipzig on a two and a half year deal, means there are now five specialist centre backs at Parkhead, Kristoffer Ajer, Dedryck Boyata, Compper, Jozo Simunovic and Erik Sviatchenko.
In addition, Nir Bitton, Mikael Lustig and Kieran Tierney have all played out of position in the centre of defence for Rodgers’s side this season.
Sviatchenko, the Denmark internationalist, has only played in two games for the Scottish champions in the 2017/18 campaign, in Champions League qualifiers against Linfield in July and Rosenborg in August.
The 26-year-old, who has spent a lengthy spell on the sidelines with a knee ligament injury this season, looks poised to move on either on loan or in a permanent move next month.
Rodgers, the former Swansea City and Liverpool manager, likes to keeper his first team squad lean to ensure there is no disharmony among the players who are not featuring regularly.
The 44-year-old, whose side take on second-placed Aberdeen in a Ladbrokes Premiership game at Celtic Park tomorrow, stressed that every player was aware of their position.
Asked if the signing of Compper would result in players departing in January, he said: “There will naturally be players who have not been playing who will be looking to move on to get games. It (centre half) was an area we wanted to strengthen so obviously there will be less opportunities for some guys.
“Virtually everyone knows their situation in the squad. I always try to stabilise the emotion of players, so they know where they at. It allows the clubs to go on and the players and their agents to get on with trying to organising moves.
“It allows them to come in every day knowing where their future is, how hard they need to work. If it’s here, great, if not they need to prepare for the next move.”
However, Rodgers stressed that every member of his Celtic squad had an opportunity to force their way into his first team even though he will be looking to bring in more new faces during the transfer window.
“It’s going to be constant over the course of January,” he said. “We’d like to have the players we want in for that period and the club are great at tying moves up.
“But getting new players is not always the answer. Last year on the winter break in Dubair was brilliant for us because we actually gained a couple of players.
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“This is a time some of them can takes steps forward. Last year Nir Bitton and Dedryck Boyata jumped forward for me and we gained from it.
“It’s expect the same this year and if we can add a few players that would be great.”
Meanwhile, Rodgers, whose side moved five points clear of second placed Aberdeen at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership on Wednesday night with their 2-0 win over Partick Thistle, has revealed he would like to have a double figure advantage by the start of the winter break.
Celtic play Dundee at Dens Park on Boxing Day and Rangers at Celtic Park on Saturday week before taking a three week break from competitive action.
“I said to the players a numbers of weeks ago about the three targets by December 30,” he said.
“If we can win the League Cup, qualify for the Europa League and have double-figure advantage by the time we arrive into the winter break then we will have a brilliant season.
“Okay, if we don’t have the double figures, as long as we have that gap then that will represent an outstanding start for the players through qualification for Europa League and winning the League Cup. That would be a great, great end to the year for us.”
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