Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has insisted he hasn’t returned to the club to rip up the transfer model in place and work out with the ongoing parameters set by the board.
There has been much speculation that Rodgers only took up the Celtic post again because he was promised a massive transfer budget and would have carte blanche on bringing in really expensive players.
However, Rodgers wants to make it clear that while the Bhoys do have a significant budget, he isn’t going to blow it all on one or two players – or demand that the club works beyond the model already in place.
Brendan Rodgers on Celtic transfers
The Celtic boss said [Daily Record]: “The club will reach out and spend what they possibly can within the model. But I think there has been a narrative based around me coming back which seems to be ‘he’s only back here because he can spend a load of money’ And that couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m back here because I want to be the Celtic manager and I’m very privileged to be that. It’s absolutely nothing to do with money whatsoever. I know where the club is at.
“I am much more aware coming back in of the model and where it is at. That’s why I needed the time to make the decision to come back, because I need to know everything about the club and where it’s at. So for me on a personal level the club has a model it works to and I’ll work within that. But there seemed to be a different narrative about me coming back here. It felt like it was people who don’t know me were creating a story around ‘why would he come back?’ It was like ‘he must be doing it because of the war chest he’s being given.
“It does make me laugh when I read it. But it’s one where I will work within the model of the club and the club has a business model which has been really successful. We will look for players who are first-team ready. But we’ll also look at players who we can bring in and develop and move on. That’s the nature of it.
“Look, there are levels to it all. You could bring in a player at any cost because if he’s a good player he’ll have value. That’s what we want. But I’m not, in any way at all, demanding that we need to sign three players at £10m or £15m. That’s not the case.”
Rodgers wants it out there in the public domain that he is a team player at Celtic this time around and in sync with the board’s vision for the club.
He has projected a very unified message since coming back in the door – there’s no ‘terminado’ or even an inkling he is unhappy with the club’s transfer approach.
In fact, he has sounded enthused about the work of the recruitment team led by Mark Lawwell and the support from chief executive Michael Nicholson.
Having clarity on all of this is useful for Celtic fans. We want to know that the club are unified on the transfer front and supportive of the manager. In turn, we want the manager to be happy with he has to work with. That is the case at the start of this new era.
In other news, New Celtic signing spotted in Japan training; closing in on first appearance.
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