“We can’t afford to fall asleep in this window,” Rodgers sends warning to the board as he discusses Celtic’s lack of recruitment.

Brendan Rodgers has admitted that if Celtic are to “kick on” this season, they cannot afford to fall asleep during the current transfer window.

This appears to be a subtle warning shot in the direction of the Celtic board.

Rodgers confirmed in a Daily Mail article this evening that Paulo Bernardo’s permanent move from Benfica to Celtic is almost complete.

Rodgers had this to say about the club’s recent transfer activity:

“We still have work to do but, with transfers, there are lots of moving parts. It’s never as easy as just seeing a player and bringing him in. We’d hope by the end of August we will have the team supported in the way we wanted.”

 

“It’s so important that you don’t snooze in this game of football. You always have to be developing and improving. And we want to ensure that we have an improved squad for this season in order to take on all the challenges that we have.”

 

We guess Rodgers knows exactly what he wants for his team.

Rodgers refused to engage in a discussion about the Adam Idah situation. However, based on what he has said, it appears that he will not be a Celtic player for a long time, if ever.

“Well, Adam is a Norwich player. He obviously did fantastically well for us last season and we’ll just see what happens over the course of the coming weeks.” Rodgers stated[Read Celtic].

“Over the course of the coming weeks” are the keywords in that statement. That pretty much clarifies that nothing is imminent, and Idah will not be a Celtic player before the season starts on Sunday. It could also be and Rodgers could be intentionally misleading the media on this point. But given our board’s glacial pace, we seriously doubt it.

With the Ibrox club looking for their ninth signing this window, it appears that Rodgers is realising that Celtic, too, need to get moving.

According to Sky Sports, Dutch defender Robin Pröpper is close to signing a deal to move from Eredivisie club FC Twente to Ibrox. No fee has been mentioned thus far, but Pröpper appears to be a step above the calibre of signings to date.

The Sun also reported today that they are considering a move for Vitesse Arnheim’s eight-time capped Dutch player, Marco van Ginkel.

No doubt that Brendan Rodgers is well-informed about these issues, which explains his comments in McGarry’s article.

The article concludes with Rodgers commenting on the current situation involving Matt O’Riley:

“It’s not a club where you have to move on from. But obviously there are riches in other leagues much greater than ours which allow players to go and improve their conditions for their lives. We all understand that.” Brendan Rodgers explained.

“But I think it’s really important from my perspective that, if a player does leave, that they pay the value for the player. And that’s not something that always happens. Sometimes the value can come in a lot less. I have worked in the Premier League and I understand the levels there. And I understand the players and what the values are.”

“So, no player will leave here unless it’s for the right valuation and, at this moment in time, there has been no team that’s been anywhere near that.”

Rodgers has made it clear that Matt O’Riley will not leave the club until his valuation is met.

From Celtics perspective, this is a good thing because no one has come close to his valuation thus far. Interestingly, Celtic and Norwich are playing the same game with Adam Idah. Celtic board has yet to come close to matching his valuation, which is why he remains a Norwich player. Celtic have yet to show that they are serious about signing Adam Idah.

It is believed that Brendan Rodgers is letting the board know, in his own way, that he is dissatisfied with the pace of our transfer business to date.

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