Celtic transfer news as Brendan Rodgers gives brutally honest answer and decision made on new SPFL rule

Speaking last week, Rodgers announced on the eve of the final season of his three-year contract he would only consider extending his deal if the board showed ambition to drive the club forward. So far, the club have brought in Ross Doohan, Kieran Tierney, Hayato Inamura, Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, Benjamin Nygren, Shin Yamada and Callum Osmand.

And when asked for a transfer update ahead of the trip to Pittodrie, Rodgers said: “There’s no news, I’ve got nothing new for you. It’s very clear what we need to improve and there’s a lot of work going on, clearly, by ourselves and probably every club. That’s the reality of this time of the year, there’s lots of work going on throughout many clubs. We’re hoping that we can conclude some deals and improve the squad.”

When asked why more deals have not been concluded, Rodgers said: “There’s obviously many things that go into it. I don’t do the deals so I can’t answer that for you. But I know that behind the scenes obviously there’s a lot of work, there’s a lot of discussions that go on to conclude deals.”

Fans have seen reports Celtic have failed with three bids for Go Ahead Eagles winger Jakob Breum, and then watched Rangers sign the Dane’s team-mate, Oliver Antman. The club has not directly replaced striker Kyogo Furuhashi, who joined Rennes in January, nor winger Nicolas Kuhn, who left for Como last month.

Asked if he could understand why supporters’ frustration might now be turning to anger, Rodgers said: “I think the board have shown over many years that the work will get done. And obviously, as a group that run the club and have run it so well for so many years, they have to get what they will feel is the best value for the players.

‘That sits above me’

“Of course, as coaches and managers and supporters, you want the best players. But ultimately, the club will be run in a way that makes sure that both the best players and the best value is there to be made. And that sits above me, that’s something that clearly does.

“Of course, we want to improve the squad and the board will want to improve the squad as well. So I’m very hopeful that we can do that. I’m just I can’t afford to get bogged down in it.”

Rodgers answered honestly, “I really don’t know”, when asked if new signings might appear in the 10 days before Celtic’s Champions League play-off first leg against either Kairat Almaty or Slovan Bratislava, who meet again in Bratislava next week with the Kazakh side 1-0 up.

When asked if he felt his squad was equipped for that challenge, Rodgers said: “Whether it is or not is irrelevant. I have to deal with the players that are here and the players that are here are talented players. They’re gifted players and we’ll squeeze everything out of them as well as we possibly can.”

Rodgers confirmed Celtic would not utilise a new SPFL rule to seek a postponement of the visit of Livingston in between the two legs on August 23. He added: “It’s early in the season, it’s at home and we feel we’ll be getting up to speed at that point.”