BRENDAN RODGERS believes Celtic owe it to their supporters to splash the cash before Friday’s transfer deadline.
The Parkhead club have spent £13million to land Adam Idah, Paulo Bernardo, Kasper Schmeichel and Viljami Sinisalo this summer yet stand to make double that from Matt O’Riley’s imminent move to Brighton.
While a season-long loan move for Barcelona left-back Alex Valle is in the pipeline, Rodgers — whose side comfortably won 3-0 at St Mirren — feels he still needs significant reinforcements to get his squad to the required level for the Champions League.
‘I think it’s a very important week for us,’ he stressed. ‘In terms of the context of next week (Rangers on Sunday) we’re in a really, really good place.
‘But over the context of the season, it’s really important for us. As a football club, we want to develop, we want to improve. We can’t be happy just to make our money and build our pot because the bottom line is on the pitch. That’s the bottom line.
‘The supporters, they pay the money. I look back to the Covid times here, the Celtic supporters sold the stadium out and they weren’t allowed in it. So we have the duty to put the best team on the pitch. That’s what we’ll do and look to do.
‘I just hope we can at least get some of it (the initial £26m fee for O’Riley).’
Rodgers believes Celtic have a duty to repay the fans by spending more in the transfer market
Barcelona left-back Alex Valle is set to undergo a medical and join Celtic on a season-long loan
Callum McGregor scores the opening goal in Celtic’s 3-0 win against St Mirren in Paisley
Valle, a 20-year-old product of Barca’s famed La Masia academy, this week signed a contract extension until 2026 but has agreed to go on loan with Celtic set to be his destination .The Spanish under-21 cap is highly rated by his parent club and spent last year at second tier Levante.
It’s believed Valle will travel to Glasgow today to undergo a medical before signing a deal which isn’t thought to include a pre-agreed purchase price.
Celtic are also negotiating with Bundesliga side Augsburg for Belgian midfielder Arne Engels and LAFC for Pole Mateusz Bogusz, who plays in the same area.
While he remains optimistic that deals will be finalised by Friday, Rodgers admits the length of time recruitment is taking needs to be addressed. ‘It’s taken a lot longer than I would have liked as the football manager. That’s my brutally honest answer on it,’ he added.
‘But I will repeat this. If we get them in, then there’s still a long season ahead. So it’s important that we do get that. And I have belief that we will do.’
Asked to expand on that theme, Rodgers said: ‘There are a number of things I won’t go into.
‘But it’s definitely something — having come back in and gone through three windows now — we have to put right as a club. We shouldn’t have been getting into this last week in the position we’re in. That’s the reality. However, that’s something for us for after this window. We’ll get the players in that we want. We don’t need to manufacture our own stress when there’s no need.
‘So we’ll be calm this week. We’ll look to get the players in that can strengthen us.”
Celtic adapted to life without O’Riley with another top-drawer display which saw them two goals up at the interval through Callum McGregor and Reo Hatate.
Canadian defender Alistair Johnston added a third in the second half as Celtic reclaimed top spot in the Premiership.
Delighted at the way his team again started the game, which saw his captain score inside three minutes, Rodgers said: ‘It certainly sets the tone. I’ve always said he’s our tempo-setter in the game, Callum McGregor. It was brilliant how he tracked the game with the ball, because we were deep and then we moved it and he travels with it. So when the ball comes to him on the edge of the box, he has his touch and finish.
‘That puts us off to a really good start and we controlled a lot of the game. What I said to the players beforehand was just about making sure that we position ourselves well when we’re attacking, so that we can sustain the attack. Because the feeling was that St Mirren were going to defend for 95 minutes of the game and wait for those two or three moments in counter-attack and for set-pieces.
‘Under the conditions, I thought we played some fantastic football. Playing against Stephen’s teams, they are always very well organised. We really kept the concentration, kept the conviction in the game and to keep a clean sheet was really good.’
Rodgers admits he’s not concerned by Rangers’ burgeoning confidence after their 6-0 win over Ross County.
‘I’m not listening,’ he shrugged. ‘Our concentration has been on us. You watch us play, you see us play. We’re in a really good place.
‘Obviously, we move into next week and our focus is on ourselves, really. Rangers games are always tough. It doesn’t matter who’s dominating and who’s not. They’re always tough games. So, we’ll be ready for next weekend.’