Almost six weeks after delivering the Scottish Cup Brendan Rodgers is still waiting on the first addition to his Celtic squad of the summer transfer window.
Preferably a First Team Starter rather than another project to sit on the sidelines alongside the job-lot brought in last summer by Mark Lawwell.
With Rodgers putting his foot down over January Recruitment the difference was obvious. No more projects were recruited, Nicolas Kuhn was more influential than Marco Tilio, Yang Hyun-jun and Luis Palma without pulling up any trees.
And then there was Adam Idah. Brought in for a specific purpose, back up and competition to Kyogo Furuhashi. A player that Rodgers knew, when he was signed on loan the manager let it be known that this was one that was front and centre for.
The first pay-back was away to Hibs. Within a week of joining from Norwich the on loan striker scored two penalties, a real area of concern, as Celtic squeezed through at Easter Road on the back of drawing at Aberdeen.
Later on that month Kyogo was hooked at half-time away to Motherwell, service was almost non-existent but Idah made things happen with two goals to turn the match around. The judgement of the manager had been vindicated.
There was more to come from Idah, delivering when it mattered, twice in the Glasgow Derby, writing his name into the history books at Hampden with a grateful support forever indebted. As should the Celtic board.
Signing a goalkeeper and getting a deal completed for Idah ought to have been the transfer priorities for Michael Nicholson who was happy to take some of the glory for the summer 2021 and January 2022 transfer windows driven by Ange Postecoglou.
Celtic take their first steps into the new season away to Ayr United on Friday, there is no sign of a replacement goalkeeper or a deal for Idah. It doesn’t bode well for other transfer targets of the manager.
Speaking at Hampden after winning the Scottish Cup, STV reported Rodgers saying:
The board know how I feel on Adam, that was the reason for bringing him in. He’s been a real catalyst for us, especially over the last few months.
I knew what I was getting because I’d seen him in the Premier League at 18. He has all the attributes. He’s fast, dynamic, strong and I felt with better positioning he’d get goals.
What he’s done since coming in is show that he’s a goalscorer. He gets different types of goals. He has great movement in the box and he deals with pressure moments.
Today, he was like a real number nine sniffing in and around the box. He’s been absolutely immense for us and he’s clearly someone I’d like to do something with.
I’ve seen development in him and that’s what the game’s about – players improving. I just know with Adam that he’s got such a high ceiling.
The Premier League is the most competitive league in world football and you need a certain level of physicality and he showed that as a really young player.
Adam probably got lost a little bit for a few years but coming to here, he’s thrived on the pressure of being at a big club.
He was clear on his role when he came in and how I would use him. Adam had to get a feel for us but I told him he had to be ready to make an impact, either starting games or coming on.
His confidence has never wavered, he’s been a brilliant team player for us.
He’s such a good guy, the players love him. And he’s a big-game player. In so many big moments, he’s stepped up to the plate for us.
I’m so happy for him – a boy from Ireland, a striker scoring the winning goal in the Scottish Cup final against Rangers. Wow. What a summer he’ll have.
My talks with Adam will remain private because there’s a lot of work to do but he knows my feelings and so does the club so we’ll see what happens.
Six weeks on Rodgers is still waiting to see what will happen, to the outsider it seems that absolutely no progress has been made on transfers since Idah popped in the winning goal in the Scottish Cup Final.
Rodgers will be expected to do some media work around Friday’s friendly at Ayr. It won’t be the events at Somerset Park that will be of interest to the Celtic supporter which is growing suspicious that past lessons haven’t been learned about transfer business.
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