Chris Sutton has urged Celtic supporters to shake off the mid-week defeat to Yokohama F.Marinos but has urged the Bhoys to get a move on with strengthening the squad during this transfer window.
Sutton doesn’t think anyone at the club, or any fans, should be sweating the 6-4 result in Japan, citing horror pre-season results from his own career and during the previous manager’s reign ahead of successful seasons.
However, the former striker does think there are areas of the team that need addressing in the transfer market – although he is heartened by the news Celtic are pursuing Polish defender Maik Nawrocki.
Sutton said [Daily Record]: “There might not be any need for panic but there are still some concerns. It looks like Brendan Rodgers is addressing the centre-back situation with the move for Maik Nawrocki. There’s no doubt it is an area that needs to be looked at with Cameron Carter-Vickers coming back from knee surgery. Rodgers has Carl Starfelt and Yuki Kobayashi, but the latter still looks raw to me.
“Nawrocki sounds like he would be a decent addition and I’m sure there will be a few more. There is still plenty of time in the window and a while before the Champions League but that doesn’t mean they can hang about. Celtic have a tough start to the Premiership campaign with Aberdeen and Rangers away from home in the opening four weeks.
“Rodgers will need to get off to a good start and he can’t afford to be playing catch up from the off. I would prefer to have seen a couple of first-team-ready signings in place by now, getting them bedded in before the season starts. It’s not always easy to do that as players and clubs will be keeping their options open right now, but I can understand it causes fans a bit of frustration.”
For me, if Celtic really start ramping up their transfer work over the next few weeks then there really is no harm done. We have to take Rodgers at his word that he wanted to assess the squad in place in first before pushing the button on recruits in different areas of the team.
He has now identified the defensive line as a place to make gains with an apparent move for Nawrocki and no doubt he has a few other key positions in mind.
Celtic do have resources available to them and will have plenty of targets identified behind the scenes. It’s now about putting the puzzle pieces together and making announcements that best prepare the squad for a treble defence and the UEFA Champions League campaign. There’s no indication that won’t happen.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers delivers firm message on Celtic transfers and available budget.
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