Brendan Rodgers on where the real ‘focus’ is as Celtic boss dodges transfer talk

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The quiet goes on.

Celtic fans are livid with the club’s board as just over two weeks remain of the summer transfer window and no new signings appear imminent.

Brendan Rodgers said as much before the victory over Aberdeen on Sunday, and nothing substantial has arrived in the days since the Pittodrie trip.

Next up for Celtic is a Premier Sports Cup clash against Falkirk and a win would take the holders of the trophy to the quarter-final stage.

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Rodgers says ‘focus’ is on current Celtic group, not transfers

Rodgers previewed the tie with Celtic TV with an interview released on Thursday morning. And he was quizzed by Gerry McCulloch, who touched on transfers at the end of their chat.

McCulloch asked the Celtic manager with all the noise currently on potential incomings, is the focus still on the players he has at his disposal?

Rodgers answered without even a hint about the transfer market, which may come as a further worry to Hoops supporters.

He said: “Well yeah, I think the focus is really good and that comes from the daily environment where the focus is on the way you train and prepare yourselves, and knowing that the strength of us will always be the team.

“So we’ve seen that, and we saw it in the first game (against St Mirren) as well. The guys really believe in the process of work, the energy is really good. And like I said they’ve produced two really good performances.

“Especially going up to Aberdeen, it is a notoriously tough place and I’ve been there many times as a manager.

“But I thought we were really good in the game to control the crowd, quieten the crowd, and played some really good football. And yeah, we thoroughly deserved to win.”

What do Celtic need from the transfer market?

The last signing Celtic made was on July 19 with the arrival of striker Shin Yamada from Kawasaki Frontale, and that bolstered the team’s strike force to four.

But fans argue Celtic still need another quality striker given doubts over Adam Idah, who is currently the first choice centre forward.

The most pertinent issue, however, is the desperate need for wingers. Celtic have Daizen Maeda, James Forrest and Yang Hyun-jun at the moment, but more are required to replace Nicolas Kuhn and the injured Jota.

Celtic signed Arne Engels and Idah for a combined £20m last summer late in the window – is a similar timeline set to unfold again?