The news that Brendan Rodgers has held talks with Celtic this weekend is one that will either excite or frustrate the supporters.
I don’t need to go into the reasons why, as these are well documented. But should he get the job, there is one area that he will need to improve on to help take us forward. The transfer market.
In his first season at Celtic, Rodgers brought in Scott Sinclair and Moussa Dembele. Two fantastic signings for the club that went on to play a huge part in our success that season. Kolo Toure was also signed but then he went on to help in a coaching role at the club after he hung up his boots.
On the flip side of that, he also brought in players like Dorus de Vries, Cristian Gamboa and Eboue Kouassi. Three players that were widely regarded as failures at the club made next to no contribution during their time at Celtic.
However, we still managed to go on and complete an Invincibles Treble season.
Rodgers’ second season was a bit more fruitful in the transfer market. The loan signings of Odsonne Edouard and Patrick Roberts complimented the permanent addition of Olivier Ntcham and Jonny Hayes. All four had a great season at the club and helped to defend the treble.
But again, the expensive loan signing of Charly Musonda added to Marvin Compper, Kundai Benyu, Jack Hendry and Lewis Morgan added another five players that drained the finances of the club whilst making no contribution on the pitch.
Rodgers’ third and final season saw the permanent addition of Edouard. £9m well spent by the club. But again, that was offset by the additions of Vakoun Bayo, Youssuf Mulumbu, Emilio Izaguirre, Oliver Burke, Daniel Arzani, Jeremy Toljan and Timothy Weah. [Transfermarkt]
Add to that the trio of winter signings of Maryan Shved, Manny Perez and Andrew Gutman [BBC] who were immediately loaned back out, the financial layout of the players that failed to make it at the club was huge.
Compare that to Ange Postecoglou’s record in the transfer market then you can see that this is an area that Rodgers will need to improve on if he is to become the next Celtic manager.
But we have a long way to go until that happens but it is fair to say that Celtic’s recruitment process is vastly improved since Rodgers’ last stint as the Celtic manager. It will be interesting to see if that continues at the club whoever is appointed but for now, we just watch and wait for any further updates this week.
In other news, The reason why Celtic Chairman Peter Lawwell was at the Champions League Final
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