Brendan Rodgers has revealed that talks are well underway to CUT his Celtic squad.
With less than three weeks to go until the SPFL season gets underway fans have become a little concerned about the lack of arrivals.
Odin Thiago Holm and Marco Tilio have both been signed but neither is expected to go straight into the Starting XI with the Australian winger currently out injured.
With Jota and Aaron Mooy no longer at the club the first team squad is weaker than it was at the end of last season but Rodgers told the Daily Record that some players will have to leave.
We will be looking to trim the squad. That will be the natural process. I’ve already spoken to a couple of players and I’m sure I will do over the course of pre-season.
You have to be honest with players. Even if it’s a tough conversation, it’s the most humane way and the most direct way to tell them the plan.
If that’s to move on and get playing football, then that’s what they have to do. Those conversations have already started but it will continue over the next few weeks.
Obviously you have a 25 man squad. At Celtic you can play between 50 and 60 games a season. so you need a really good core group of 17 or players and then looking at players and younger players to supplement that because you will have injuries.
You have to be mindful of the European list as well, which is very complicated with home grown, trained and so on, but you can have 17 players from anywhere. It’s always comes into the thinking as well.
Albian Ajeti, Ismaila Soro, Liam Shaw and Osaze Urhoghide never made it into the squad for Portugal which suggests that they are among those that Rodgers has in mind to depart.
None of the players out on loan last season made an overwhelming case to move up the pecking order at Celtic with Adam Montgomery already fixed up with Fleetwood.
James McCarthy hardly looks likely to be involved in the season ahead while it is difficult to see where Liam Scales fits in, entering the final season of his contract some big decisions will have to be made on the future of David Turnbull.
