Celtic manager hopeful that new signing will happen before deadline
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers remains hopeful that the club will bring in a new striker before the transfer window closes on Monday night – but admitted an arrival is likely to be on loan.
Celtic are still hunting for a No 9 after selling Kyogo Furuhashi to Rennes earlier this week and in recent days have been linked with Sevilla’s Kelechi Iheanacho, Slovan Bratislava’s David Strelec and Mathias Kvistgaarden of Brondby. And while Rodgers was unable to give a concrete answer on what would happen in the next 24 hours or so, he reiterated his desire for a new hitman to supplement his options for the rest of the season.
“We play so many games,” said Rodgers after Celtic’s 3-1 win over Motherwell. “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 to come in. So that’s the plan. And hopefully that can be the case, and we execute that by tomorrow night.
I don’t know exactly know where it’s at at this moment, but I’d be hopeful that we can do that. 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 don’t expect it [Monday] to be hectic, but I would hope that we could come out of this window stronger. And that’s always been the plan.”
When asked if a deal for new striker would likely be a loan, Rodgers added: “I would think so. I would think so. 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 just 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 tomorrow evening brings.”
Rodgers also gave an update on Daniel Cummings’ situation, with the 18-year-old striker out of contract at the end of the season. He was not in the squad for the Motherwell win and has been linked with teams in England.
He was with the second team yesterday and he was ill in the warm-up, so he didn’t play,” explained Rodgers. “I believe there’s interest from another club for him, but that’s been the case with a lot of our young players.
“You get to a certain age where they have their contract running out, and then they have a decision to make. Do they stay and follow the example of a Callum McGregor, for example, trust the club, be patient and knowing that you might not be right ready at 17, 18, but you have to be a special talent to be.
“Can you just be patient and wait a little bit longer? Or do you do what a lot of players have done and take the opportunity at 18 to look elsewhere? So I think that’s the situation that young Daniel is with his agents. We will just wait and see what happens.
