BRENDAN RODGERS has repeated the urgent requirement for Celtic to bring in “established” players during the January transfer window.
The Hoops manager spoke out as he prepared to take his players to Perth for the Premiership encounter against St Johnstone for the noon kick-off on Sunday in the aftermath of two back-to-back disappointing results.
The Parkhead men dropped two points in a frustrating 1-1 home stalemate with Motherwell and followed up with a 2-0 loss against Lazio in Rome which ended their interest in European competition for another year.
FINAL FAREWELL…Filipe Jota with the Scottish Cup in his last Celtic appearance on June 3.
Rodgers watched his team hold out until the 82nd minute at the Olimpico Stadium before a late collapse rendered their final Champions League Group E match against Feyenoord in Glasgow a week on Wednesday meaningless.
The Irishman was quick to highlight the “glaring” need to add quality to his squad, as CQN reported.
In the summer, fans’ favourite Filipe Jota left in a £25million switch to Saudi Arabia in July, Australia World Cup midfielder Aaron Mooy retired and Swedish international central defender Carl Starfelt moved to Celta Vigo.
Rodgers, who returned in mid-June for his second stint as Celtic gaffer, insisted his aim was to add to the player pool he had inherited from Spurs-bound Ange Postecoglou and now he will get the opportunity to do so next month.
He said: “The squad will come down to numbers. Obviously, like I say, we need to add quality.
ENDGAME…Aaron Mooy celebrates his solitary season at Celtic before retiring.
“There’s no dressing that up for the group, they lost some quality players in the summer, so, that’s something over the coming windows that we will look to improve on.
“I felt that when I came in during the summer, with the squad that was already in place from last season we probably needed four players – quality players – to add to the squad.”
Rodgers, speaking to the Glasgow Times, added: “To continue to improve and to grow you also need to have players who are established.
“The next step is the European side and that’s why I came back to, hopefully, be able to fulfil that in my time here.”
