Brendan Rodgers has made it very clear that Celtic won’t be splashing out big money on a headline grabbing signing.
At the end of June the club announced greater than expected profits to the Stock Market with those funds boosted by around £18m from the sale of Jota to Al Ittihad.
So far in the transfer window Celtic have signed four emerging talents from South Korea, Norway and Australia for around £6m with a fee of £4.2m shelled out to Legia Warsaw to bring in Maik Nawrocki.
Last summer Ange Postecoglou spent around £20m on the first team squad with the bulk of that securing Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jota after successful spells on loan. Boosting the squad, Alexandro Bernabei and Sead Haksabanovic were also signed for around £3m with Aaron Mooy arriving as a free agent with Moritz Jenz and Oliver Abildgaard signing on loan, both left in January.
📝 Celtic’s transfer policy explained
❎ No £15m-£20m signing
✅ More incomings this window
🏆 Rangers challenge & title race
🌍 Targets in Europe & domestically
🤝 His message to the Celtic fansOur 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 interview with Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/G2uYC2jquV
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) July 31, 2023
That’s a huge difference when you don’t have eight games to qualify. Listen, we want to improve the squad. I think everyone looks and thinks that we might be bringing in a £15million or £20million player.
Now the reality is, that won’t be the case. It’s not what the club is based on. But that doesn’t mean that there’s not talented players out there that we want. So there’s still quite a way to go in the window, so we’ll look to improve the squad again and continue with that.
We’ve done a lot of early business which has been great, that allows the players to come in and settle, and of course, we want to do some more. But I’m quite calm on that and the players that we have are working very well and we’ll look to bring in some more to help them.
Rodgers’ decision to return to Celtic was expected to come wrapped up with a massive transfer budget and an influx of new players but that clearly isn’t the message from the man himself.
New contracts for Callum McGregor, Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi would have put a dent in the club budget but a few days ahead of the first SPFL match of the season there is no sign of any genuine first team starters at the club.
Although there are no Champions League qualifiers to be negotiated the first month of the season takes the hoops to Pittodrie and Ibrox, the two toughest away venues on the fixture list.
With Alistair Johnston looking unlikely to be involved in those matches and Cameron Carter-Vickers yet to play since undergoing knee surgery in May there seems little doubt that Celtic are in a weaker position than they ended last season.
That could well change during August with Rodgers clearly relaxed about transfer issues, trusting the squad that he has inherited and his ability to improve them on the the training field.
Going by the three public pre-season matches Liel Abada and Reo Hatate look to have found top form while Kyogo and Maeda have their eye for goal.
On Tuesday night Rodgers will give most of his squad 45 minutes in the James Forrest Testimonial Match against Athletic Club of Bilbao, after that the real stuff begins when the team list appears for Saturday’s match at home to Ross County.
After the trip to Ibrox on September 3 and the start of the Champions League group stage fans will have a better idea of how Rodgers’ side is looking second time around.t.
