BRENDAN RODGERS has until 11pm this evening to strengthen his Celtic squad for the remainder of a crucial campaign.
The manager admitted he expects the Hoops to emerge stronger from the transfer window than when they entered it.
At the moment that is not the case with main striker Kyogo Furuhashi quitting for French side Rennes and no adequate cover for Adam Idah being introduced to the Parkhead ranks.
Rodgers now faces a deadline day dilemma as the minutes tick down to the cut-off that could see the champions one injury away to the Republic of Ireland international from a crisis.
CALM BEFORE THE STORM…Brendan Rodgers looks on before kick-off at Fir Park yesterday, but it will be a little more hectic tonight for the Celtic manager in the race to strengthen Celtic.
The Hoops gaffer is determined to add an attack-leader to his player pool, but he has been frustrated so far in his pursuit of £14million-rated Brondby marksman Mathias Kvistgaarden and Seville’s Kelechi Iheanacho.
He is still being linked with Slovan Bratislava hitman David Strelc, rated in the £8million bracket, as CQN reported at the weekend.
Rodgers admitted he may have to settle on a loan deal to solve the problem and said: “I think that to get the one that we would want for that longer term.
“If it’s not there, then I don’t want to bring in anyone just for the sake of it. I’ll always look from within.
“There’s no point in bringing in someone if they’re not the right fit. So, it might be more down that route, but we’ll wait and see what the evening brings.”
KNOCK ON WOOD…Adam Idah is out of luck with a low drive that strikes the Motherwell woodwork. Nicolas Kuhn gets a close-up view of his team-mate’s prowess.
Idah is eager to accept the responsibility of being the main man and brought his tally to three games with a smart effort in the 3-1 win over Motherwell yesterday to add to the double he struck in the 4-2 Champions League loss against Aston Villa in the Midlands last midweek.
Rodgers, though, emphasised the need of another to share the burden and, speaking to the Daily Record, continued: “Yes, it’s competition. We’ve got to this point in the season. Why? Because the squad has been really competitive.
“We can bring players in who can do well. Like we can take Nicolas Kuhn off, put Jota in to the game, which keeps the level of the game up.
“We play so many games. And how we want to play takes a lot of work, a lot of intense work. My feeling was always once Kyogo was gone, was to have someone else come in.
“So, that’s the plan. And, hopefully, that can be the case and we execute that by tonight.”
INS AND OUTS…Filipe Jota has returned to Celtic in the move that saw top scorer Kyogo Furuhashi switch to Rennes.
The Irishman added: “The club knows my feelings, they know why I came back. I’m here to enjoy my time at Celtic, not to fall out with myself and do all the things that sometimes I maybe didn’t do the first time.
“But the demand is still there to improve the squad. We have to. We have to make sure that there’s constant improvement.
“That’s been clear. I don’t need to fall out with anyone over it. Everyone knows what it is we want to do at the club and that’s us all. I’m hopeful that we can do that.
“I would hope that we could come out of this window stronger. And that’s always been the plan.”