Brendan Rodgers shares Celtic supporters’ desire to be braver in transfer market

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers admits he shares supporters’ desire for the club to show more “bravery” in the transfer market.

But he stressed the need for unity in the wake of a transfer window that failed to live up to the expectations of many fans.

Rodgers had consistently pointed out his wish for quality additions after arriving during a summer window which saw Celtic sign largely young and inexperienced players.

Their January business saw them buy 24-year-old German winger Nicolas Kuhn from Rapid Vienna and sign 22-year-old Norwich forward Adam Idah on loan.

Rodgers declared himself happy with the two signings and pointed that clubs were difficult to do business with over other targets, but he understood why supporters were left wanting more.

“I would go with supporters thinking we could maybe be a little bit braver in terms of bringing in another level of player but that’s up to me to try and fix over the course of my time here,” he said.

“But you look at the strategy here and you have to be careful because in some ways it has worked. You bring in players for a minimal fee and then they go out and make the club a lot of money.

“What I want to hopefully balance in my time here is that we can still do that, because it is an important part of the modern game, but we also want to be brave enough to hang our hat on a ready-made player.

“So I totally understand the support but likewise that player has to be available.

“Now, we bring in someone like Adam, who is a big, big talent, now that might be someone who come the summer who will be that type of player, but we get the chance to see that.”

When asked if he was confident the club would show that bravery in the summer or whether he still needed to persuade others, he said: “It’s time, isn’t it?

“We have got to be really careful here because I get a sense of looking for someone to blame, and that’s not what this club is about. This club is about being together. The minute there is a separation, then it’s a difficult club. We can’t look to blame anyone.

“As a manager, I will always demand the best possible players we can get here. The board’s job and the people who look after the club, have done that over many years. The club have made a lot of money and invested it.

“What we are looking to do is to find the balance and get ready-made players alongside players who are developing. But that’s naturally what we will do and I think teams and managers will always do that.”

Rodgers explained some of the challenges Celtic faced during a window when fans expected a new left-back to arrive, for instance.

“We looked at a number of players that didn’t just quite fit or wouldn’t have improved what he had in certain positions, and then there were others where it was the other club,” he said.

“There was a willingness here to to bring players in but you need that to work both ways. There were a few players who really wanted to come but the club wouldn’t allow them to come.

“I didn’t want to just bring someone in to make it fashionable and have that yellow band across the telly saying we had signed a player.

“Like you have seen throughout the game, the market has been very quiet and it’s been no different from us. But it wasn’t through the lack of effort and work from the club. We will move on with the group we have and we are really positive about that.

“Despite the frustration, I know there is still a lot of growth left in this squad.”