Stephen McGinn believes Brendan Rodgers has signed a player who’s taken Celtic ‘to a new level’

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Brendan Rodgers has been beating the drum for almost a year now about adding quality to his Celtic team to compete in Europe.

The Celtic boss has been on the hunt to do just that this summer and has added four new faces to his squad.

However, with Matt O’Riley departing for Brighton this week, the need to add more quality just became greater but Stephen McGinn reckons Rodgers has already done that this summer with the capture of Kasper Schmeichel.

Schmeichel ‘speeds up’ Celtic attack

The one big thing that has been evident from Celtic this season is how aggressive they have been in the attack and McGinn credits that to the signing of the big Danish international ‘keeper.

McGinn told The Go Radio Football Show, “Seeing him up close and personal, I think Kasper Schmeichel takes Celtic to a new level.

“I don’t think I’m the first one to say it, he speeds up Celtic’s attacks.

“I mean, I say this with no disrespect to Joe Hart, I thought he was brilliant signing for Celtic, but Kasper Schmeichel is almost like another midfielder. He’s like a deep-lying midfielder.

“He plays quite high up. They knock it back to him, the St Mirren guys at times, if they switch off half a second, Kasper Schmeichel can find Callum McGregor and Reo Hatate and he’s not even just giving it to defenders.

“He can split lines.”

Schmeichel gives Celtic a new dimension

It is quite evident the difference that Schmeichel makes to the Celtic team. The 37-year-old looks calm and controlled with the ball at his feet and already the Celtic support has seen how his directness opens up the Hoops attack.

Admittedly, the big Celtic ‘keeper has not had much to do in terms of making big saves this season so far but looking at how he fared on the US Tour, the Celtic fans have already formed an opinion on their new number one.

Schmeichel will face his first big test on Sunday when Rangers come visiting for the first Glasgow Derby of the season and if he can produce a performance like those at pre-season, then Celtic have a great chance of picking up all three points against Philippe Clement’s side.