Brendan Rodgers walks a fine line but his Friday Celtic transfer message has undeniable urgency

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Brendan Rodgers is walking a fine line on all the discussions around Celtic transfers this summer.

He knows as well as anyone that there’s still a lot of work to be done on his squad before it is ready for the many challenges ahead this season.

However, he is also keen to show respect for the recruitment staff he works with. He isn’t at all interested in sowing division or negativity within the Celtic set-up.

He’s not at war with the board. He’s not calling anyone out publicly. He wants everyone at the club to be united and moving forward together.

Yet, there’s an undeniable urgency in what he told Sky Sports on Friday, noting that the squad is currently short on the quality it needed last season, never mind this one.

Brendan Rodgers on Celtic transfers

The Celtic manager said: “It is always about quality, I think that’s what is key. We had a good squad last season but we needed to improve on that. Thus far, we are still short even on those numbers. Paulo [Bernardo] coming back is great but we are still short on that.

“The guys have been working so hard behind the scenes, we know what we need to do. I’m not going to get bogged down by the negative toxic energy that comes around transfers.

“We will work with the players that we have, we know that we will make them better, we know as a club what we need to do and what we need to improve. We have just under four weeks to be able to do that.”

Multiple positions need new Celtic talent

The signing of Paulo Bernardo this week was welcome, as were the arrivals of goalkeepers Kasper Schmeichel and Viljami Sinisalo.

However when you consider there is currently no competition for Greg Taylor at left-back, nor Kyogo Furuhashi up front, then there’s a real need to get that ‘quality’ business done quickly.

If you add an upgrade at centre-back and potentially a replacement for Matt O’Riley too, the club have their work cut out for them over the next month.

Rodgers isn’t throwing any toys out of the Celtic pram but he’s crystal clear on what he wants and those above him need to deliver.