Not Actually that Crucial a Summer as of August 2023...beginning to now think everything isnt fine!

Rodgers is looking to bolster his squad in the remaining two weeks of the transfer window. But the Celtic boss was cool on talk of snapping up Newcastle United wide man Ryan Fraser and Wolves attacker Daniel Podence.

Record Sport understands the Hoops are not interested in pursuing Fraser despite the Magpies offering a deal for the Scotland man. And a bid for Podence is also a nonstarter due to the £12m-rated Portuguese wide man’s wage demands.

Rodgers remained tight-lipped on targets and said: “There’s obviously names that will get thrown out there but there’s nothing to say on them. There’s nothing imminent.

“I still think we need to improve the squad in certain key positions. There’s still a way to go. It’s never straight forward, especially when you are looking to get really talented players.

“But I would hope by the end of the window we would have done some more business.

 

Article from our pal Stephen in mail+

Life as a scout with a major football club must be a frustrating way to earn a living. While he can lead the horse to water, he can’t make it drink.


In the summer of 2020, Celtic shelled out £5million for Albian Ajeti. For a fraction of the price they could have landed a young midfielder destined to become the fifth most expensive signing in history.


A former talent spotter on the Parkhead pay roll clocked the potential of a teenage Ecuadorian starlet by the name of Moises Caicedo. Playing for Independiente del Valle in his homeland, the scout reckoned Celtic could land the next big thing for a fee of around £1m. By the time Caicedo had turned 18, a recommendation was sent back to Glasgow to sign him.


Maybe the missive travelled by carrier pigeon. However it got there, Caicedo’s name was added to ‘the list’ and soon it was too late.


By October 2020, the teenage enforcer was making a name for himself. He became the first player born in the 21st century to score in CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying in a 4-2 win over Uruguay. As he acquired more caps, word of the new kid in town spread and Brighton paid £4.5m to take him to England months later.


This week, Caicedo became the most expensive player in British football. Chelsea stepped in to gazump Liverpool with a bid of £115m and, if there was no gnashing of teeth in the east end of Glasgow, then there really should have been.

In professional football, you win some and you lose some. Chelsea offered a trial to a young Kylian Mbappe then let him walk out the door to join Monaco.



Manchester City decided a local lad by the name of Marcus Rashford was a bit on the small side. Preening themselves over the vast profit they made on Caicedo, Brighton didn’t look quite so clever the day they passed on a 15-year-old Roy Keane.

The trick is to minimise the number of *-ups. And, when it comes to spotting the stars of the future, Celtic have had their moments.

They signed a guy called Virgil van Dijk who went on to become the most expensive defender on the planet.

They snapped up a Benfica fringe player seeking first-team football and turned Jota into a £25m asset. Over the piece, a policy of snapping up unheralded players from under-appreciated markets has reaped dividends.

The problem with signing players for the future is the risk of neglecting the here and now. And, as the current window heads into the final weeks, Celtic fans seem a bit underwhelmed by the signings so far.

Of the new faces, only one — defender Maik Nawrocki — started the 3-1 win over Aberdeen. South Korean winger Yang Hyun-Jun enjoyed an impressive late cameo and Norwegian midfielder Odin Thiago Holm looks a tidy footballer. Whether you’d pitch any of them straight in against Real Madrid in the Champions League is another matter.

When Brendan Rodgers returned to Celtic this summer, fans braced themselves for a sprinkling of English Premier League glamour — and they might still get their wish.

The likes of Daniel Podence of Wolves and Kieran Tierney at Arsenal are now finding themselves surplus to requirements.



And, while selling clubs talk tough when the phone starts to ring, chief execs left hanging on the line see the flannel.

Come the final days, teams up and down the country will be slashing prices faster than the administrators of Wilko.

There’s a good case for Celtic joining the queue with a credit card in hand.

Jota has jumped on the Saudi gravy train. Experienced defender Carl Starfelt moved to Celta Vigo. Injuries to Oh Hyeon-Gyu and Alistair Johnston have exposed a lack of depth in key positions.

When Cameron Carter-Vickers and Reo Hatate limped out of Pittodrie last weekend, the thought of who might replace them at Ibrox on September 3 had supporters breaking out in a cold sweat. With the futures of Hatate and Liel Abada up in the air, Celtic are a Kyogo shoulder injury away from cracked crests on the back pages.

Winning the title secured a guaranteed £30million windfall from the Champions League. And, while that new indoor training facility at Barrowfield won’t pay for itself, the need to make the first team wind proof and watertight in time for the Champions League is more pressing.

With six new players in the door, you couldn’t accuse last season’s Treble winners of spending the summer sitting on their hands.

The trouble is that no-one knows yet if Mark Lawwell has uncovered the next Moises Caicedo or another Albian Ajeti.

The final weeks of the window offer a chance to sign two or three tried-and-tested players with a few miles on the clock.

They’d be daft not to take it

 

If the Gus transfer was done quickly (a week and a half), then with a fortnight to go, we should be hearing names beginning of the week.

Definitely becomes a bit chess-like now. Waiting for other moves to click in to place this late in the window. Hopefully get at least 2 bits of real quality. 4 needed though.

 

For the VERY first time in this window I'm optimistic the club HAVE indeed approached players that will immediately slot into the first 11.

Rodgers comments, "There’s still a way to go. It’s never straight forward, especially when you are looking to get really talented players." , To me, spells the likelihood that we have been working on a higher caliber of signing.

But as I've said, umpteen times in this thread, it's a very poor and risky strategy.
I repeat, handling business in this manner is how you end up with panic loans like Laxalt et al.

We should never find ourselves in a position where we wait on a player or indeed a club , letting the window wind down to wait and see if other offers are there.

For example; let's fir arguments sake say we are indeed interested in Podence.
We take the view that 12m is too much. Especially for a surplus player in his final year. We enter protracted negotiations. The longer the window goes on and time runs out, Wolves start to sweat, lower the price to get him off the books.
Now that the price is more affable, a few other clubs unwilling to deal at that 12m mark now enter. Podence now has other offers as opposed to none. Maybe some from Portugal, mid table Italian sides or Spanish sides. We're done. CL or no.
So then we end up paying a fortune in wages to Ryan * Fraser.

It's not the way to conduct business. 12m is too much. Agreed. But just * pay it. It's the nature of the business.
Regarding players, here's a great wage at a world famous club playing CL football Infront of 60000 of the most passionate fans on the planet. If you need WEEKS to mull it over, * away aff. We move on.

My fingers , toes and testicles are crossed hoping we can pull off the three VITAL positions we need reinforced. Happy to wait until January for the other two.
But I'm still fearful this could be the most disappointing window in recent memory.

 

We NEED to hear some progression on a rumour of significance ie podence or someone if that calibre monday, latest Tuesday to boost some morale. We know how long it took to finalise the lagerbielke deal so imo we need to have some sort of confirmation on a quality signing or two by Tuesday to guarantee getting them and possibly 1 or two more in by the end of the window

 

That's cos you're a * idiot tbf.

 

Rodgers is far too calm in the pressers for stuff not to be progressing. He's being coy on transfers so we dont price ourselves out of moves for the better quality players (at least thats what im taking from it). Fingers crossed.

 

For a while I’ve got the impression of that really, he’s happy with the squad, and what he wants in is quality and he won’t go for less if it doesn’t happen quickly.

The market we’ll be in for first team improvement now is a bastarding hard one to operate in from Scotland, regardless if you have the cash there to compete. It’s now a money and club reputation being relied on enough to forget where we play most games. And going up to a plastic pitch this weekend any potential players we’re talking to, thats the * that won’t be appealing or helpful at getting them here.

And any agent worth there wage will be trying hard to get a Saudi offer, if even to bump up the wage offered by any others. It’s not just the big players getting a whack over there, it’s from the bottom level up.

 

You'd have hoped we'd have shifted some dead wood this window as well. The squad's massive at the moment, I'm surprised we haven't at least seen more loan deals come through.

 

Iv never seen Rodgers anything but calm.

 

Absolutely doable...but need to be proactive now. But the timing of it all (2 weeks left) suggest there's a lot of variables outwith our control. And we just have to see where we fit in.

Think that's what frustrates folk, we've had plenty of time to be proactive in the market and now it seems we're reactive, depending on x,y and z to make it happen.

Sound like a broken record, need 4, reckon we'll see 2, maybe 3 tops.

 

Mon Celtic get yer fingers oot

 

Think we'll see 1 or 2 in the next 11 days then 2 on deadline day.

 

Hoping for a big effort before the close but really disappointed with our strategy, or lack of this window.

The very fact that we are reportedly in for Fraser and/or Podence shows a lack of imagination and preparation for me.

At this stage, im hoping for Borges from City or Duk and Livakovic before the close, maybe a left back as well with Soro, Ajeti, Kobiyashi and Bernabei going the other way.

 

Borges is at Ajax.

 

Think we have improved our CB depth, with Nawrocki in as well as Lagerbielke..

Holm and Yang look very promising too..

But, we all know what else is required, hopefully this pipeline of players BR has been talking about, transmits to signings.

 

Have we signed 6 players to compliment a treble winning squad? I only ask because it doesn't seem like it.

There will be players in during the next 7 days. You can quote me on that.

Plenty will go out on loan as well.

 

Ahh ffs