CELTIC are poised to unveil record signing Arne Engels and defender Auston Trusty before tonight’s 11pm transfer deadline.
Brendan Rodgers refused to name names when he talked about the recruits – costing a joint £16.9million – who will be arriving at the champions.
Twenty-year-old midfielder Engels is on his way from Bundesliga outfit Augsburg while centre-back Trusty will quit Sheffield United to team up with his fellow-American international colleague Cameron Carter-Vickers.
However, the Hoops gaffer, preparing his team for Sunday’s derby against Philippe Clement’s Ibrox outfit at Parkhead, did reveal the club were working on a “number of transactions” as the clock ticked down.
Rodgers admitted: “We hope we’ll have a number of signings sealed to close out the market in a really positive way.
“We always said we wanted to finish stronger than we entered into it and I’m very positive we can do that.
“There’s a number of things we’re looking at. I don’t want to speak while the process is in place, but we have a number of transactions going on behind the scenes and, hopefully, by the end of the evening we can be in a good place and have that strength and depth we want.
“The intention of the club is always there. What we want to do is keep progressing and if we can sign someone who is a regular young player in the Bundesliga along with the other players we want to sign then it’s that support the team needs and the fans will be really happy bringing in the level of players we can.
“The team deserve good players to come in and challenge them and make us better as a whole. I’m really confident we can close the market this evening in a really good way.”
Dundee midfielder Luke Cameron is another name linked with Celtic and he would offer an option with UEFA’s homegrown rule where eight locally-trained players must be included in a 25-man squad.
Rodgers, speaking to Sky Sports, continued: “The Scottish players are important for us, not just to put on a list, but to have available for the squad, to be able to use.
“So, the homegrown side of things is always important to Celtic, but certainly having homegrown players allows you to fulfil the squad you want rather than having to take players out because you don’t have them.
“We just want good players whether they’re Scottish, Irish, whatever.”
On the flip side, Rodgers opened on player departures as he said: “We’ve had one or two who have gone out on loan. That was always going to be the case this summer, transitioning the squad.
“Some players have been brilliant servants, but not getting the game time they need for their careers, so some of those guys have gone out to play and there might be one or two more.
“There will be movement in and out and we’ll be ready to go from tomorrow, window shut and we can give it a rest for a while.”
Quizzed on scare stories concerning defensive rock Carter-Vickers missing the first all-Glasgow confrontation of the new campaign, the manager answered: “No, it’s just about giving him a wee day of recovery.
“Sometimes we do that in our sessions. When players are overloaded, we can take one or two out and give them a recovery day having worked hard all week.”
