Celtic face huge week with transfers as Brendan Rodgers lifts lid on player hunt and why he's sanctioned exit

The Serie A team, who won the Europa League last season and will compete in the Champions League this term, are looking to strengthen their midfield options this summer due to the likely departure of Teun Koopmeiners. Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini has identified O'Riley as a suitable replacement and lodged a bid to Celtic earlier this month, which was rejected.

Atalanta have since returned with improved offers but have yet to meet Celtic's asking price, according to numerous reports. The defending Scottish Premiership champions want more than £20million for one of their key players, with negotiations expected to continue this week.

O'Riley is currently in the United States on a pre-season tour with Celtic and scored twice in Sunday morning's 4-0 win over DC United. Celtic take on Man City in the early hours of Wednesday morning and then Chelsea on Wednesday night. It remains to be seen if O'Riley, who has two months on his contract, will be present for those matches, with Southampton also holding a keen interest in the player.

Meanwhile, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers says he wants to bring in two new strikers for the upcoming campaign. His only current senior option is Japanese forward Kyogo Furuhashi and the Northern Irishman has made it clear he wants more options in his forward line. Moves are afoot to sign last season's loanee Adam Idah on a permanent contract from Norwich, while Rodgers is also eyeing a young striker to fill the void left by Rocco Vata's departure to Watford.

“My ideal scenario would be to have three strikers," said Rodgers. “The plan was for us to have Kyogo, one other and bring through a youngster. That was the role we came up with for Rocco.

“It’s very difficult for a club of this size to have three top strikers. You can live with two because we play so many games and the specific nature of them means we can change it about. Three is difficult. But I also thought it would be good for development to bring in a young player from within. Rocco was that, but he’s moved on.

"So we may have to look elsewhere. But three is a really good number. Two, I would say to be number one strikers, and one that we can nurture and develop.”

Celtic are hoping to also bring back Paulo Bernardo from Benfica and have been linked with another midfielder in Venezia's Tanner Tessman, as well as Antwerp winger Michel-Ange Balikwisha. Speaking from the US, Rodgers would not be drawn on specific names but insisted tireless work is going on when it comes to transfers.

“I’m really hopeful every day," Rodgers continued. "We know we need to improve the squad. But we know we need to improve the squad, we want to develop. But in the meantime, whilst we await that, you can see the players that are here are developing well, working well and they’re playing some fantastic football at this pre-season stage.”

Goalkeeper Benjamin Siegrist is edging closer to the exit door, with the Swiss set to join Rapid Bucharest in Romania. The former Dundee United stopper has fallen down the pecking order after the arrivals of Kasper Schmeichel and Viljami Sinisalo.

“It’s fair to say that with Benji, he’ll be looking to move on," added Rodgers in an interview with the Scottish Sun and Daily Record. "He’s been a really professional guy. His spirit, he’d done well at United and come into Celtic and maybe wanted to play more. When he didn’t, and I can only speak for my year with him, he was exemplary.

“His professionalism, everything about him was first class. And when I spoke last season, we thought that probably for him, in this part of his career, he needed to go and play. So I believe that will be the case and he will move on.”