BRENDAN RODGERS believes a move to Celtic is even more appealing with the lure of the glamour games in the Champions League against Barcelona, Manchester City and Borussia Monchengladbach.
The Hoops boss has been promised a Euro windfall by chief executive Peter Lawwell as he looks to add new players to the champions’ first team squad.
Rodgers has already brought in four – Moussa Dembele (Fulham), Scott Sinclair (Aston Villa), Dorus de Vries (Nottingham Forest) and free agent Kolo Toure – but is still on the hunt for new talent.
He said: “Celtic as a football club is a huge attraction whether it’s in the Champions League or not.
“The scale of the club and expectancy here means the club will always attract players, but when you have the games we have and to play in front of our supporters it is a huge attraction.
“Being in the Champions League will make some players sit up and take notice and that gives you the opportunity to bring that calibre of player in.
“It allows us, hopefully, to add to our squad before the window shuts. That was always going to be the case, but once qualification is done it opens up some more funds in order to do that.
“Of course, that’s great because the club are trying to develop now and this Champions League qualification helps that hugely.
“It play-off second leg against Hapoel Be’er Sheva was quoted as the richest game in history of the club, so it shows you the impact it can have, but we want to bring in the right profile of players that can help us, not just now, but in the next few years.
“The building job we’re trying to do here isn’t just for the short-term, it’s for the longer term, so if we can get the right one or two players in that’s something we’ll look to do. We have a few ideas of players we want.”
*Once Upon a Time in the Kingdom of Govania is available from www.cqnbookstore.com
