The message from Brendan Rodgers throughout the transfer window was Celtic knew exactly what they needed to do.
Perhaps more tellingly, that became the Celtic BOARD knew exactly what Rodgers needed to do. That they ended the window with Crystal Palace utility man Jeffrey Schlupp on loan and no striker to replace Kyogo suggests that despite knowing, they couldn’t or wouldn’t get it done. The likes of Kelechi Iheanacho, David Strelec and even Danny Ings on Deadline Day were linked, but none arrived.
An enquirt earlier in the month for Motherwell starlet Lennon Miller was also shut down. In fairness, Miller doesn’t fall into the necessary category – he is still just 18, injured and had plenty of older heads in front of him in the pecking order when it comes to midfield spots in Rodgers’ team. Celtic may fear they’ve missed the chance to steal a march on the competition in the summer, but not having Miller isn’t going to have much of an effect.
The biggest disappointment for fans is no Kieran Tierney this month. His homecoming will be lapped up in the summer, but until then, Greg Taylor remains the first choice left back with Schlupp in reserve. Not the first choice scenario for piunters or the manager.
Rodgers also seemed to change his tune on Kyogo as the window went on. He went from staying, to “what if” to Rodgers revealing a request to leave was made months ago. Record Sport has looked at every word Rodgers said on transfers this month and whether he’s had the window he wanted.
On keeping Kyogo
Rodgers was always positive on Kyogo’s Celtic future and initially claimed the Japanese was part of the plans, just like any other big players: “Yeah, just like all the players here. We want to keep improving and developing the squad. Look at Kyoto’s goals today – that’s what he’s all about.|
But he didn’t exactly rubbish exit rumours: “Yeah, all these what-ifs scenarios you have to be. I think the biggest thing is, if a player doesn’t want to be here, then go. And then it’s at that point, then the club has to get the best possible deal. So I don’t ever see the point of keeping someone who doesn’t want to be here.
“For us it’s all eventualities. That’s what we prepare for, whether it’s injuries, whether it’s transfers. I think you always have to be ready, and that’s our message. But for him, at this moment in time, he’s happy, he’s working well, scoring goals, and enjoying his football.
“People will always look into something, he didn’t celebrate enough, or he didn’t do this, or he didn’t do that. I see him every day. I see his work, I see his intensity – maybe he scores so much that he doesn’t really have to celebrate madly all the time. Or maybe he was too cold.
“But no, he’s just the same guy. There’s always speculation, and I’m not scared of the speculation. There’ll always be wee bits and pieces around him.”
After Kyogo then left for Rennes, Rodgers admitted the player had asked to leave last summer. he said: “Kyogo had expressed an interest to leave a number of months back. Obviously then that expression becomes stronger and then it gets to this stage where he clearly wants to leave and we have to then do a deal and look to finalise that for him.
“He’s been an incredible player for the club in the three-and-a-half years he’s been here and, like I said, he’s not someone we wanted to lose. But we have to accept where he’s at and after the work that he’s done to give to Celtic, and his age and where he’s at, we have to accept that.”
On replacing Kyogo
The message after he left for France quickly became about the need to replace him: “Well, clearly, he’s been a real iconic player for the club. He’s done absolutely brilliantly in his time here, so yes, it’s about getting a replacement. I think that’s made clear.
“He’s a player that’s done a great job, but he probably wanted to leave. We have to move on from that and we have to look to the next player to come in.
“There’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes. Like I said, we’ve known for a number of months of what he was going to look like. Clearly, we wouldn’t have wanted to have sold him, certainly not at this point.
“But he made it clear he wanted to move and when that’s the case, then we have to find the best solution for the club. And the club will work very hard and we’ll look to get an able replacement.”
However, as time ticked down, Rodgers conceded that a loan may be Celtic’s only option, stating: “There’s no point in bringing in someone if they’re not the right fit. So it might be more down that route, but we’ll wait and see.
“My feeling was always once Kyogo was gone, was to have someone else to come in. I don’t know exactly know where it’s at at this moment, but I’d be hopeful that we can do that.
“But the demand is still there to improve the squad. We have to make sure that there’s constant improvement. That’s been clear. I don’t need to fall out with anyone over it.”
On signing Kieran Tierney in January
Getting Tierney was the ultimate goal, but Rodgers made no secret of the fact a January loan was also in this plans and would have solved the left back problem especially as Alex Valle was allowed to head back to Barcelona.
“I don’t know. I think that, like I said, we’d prepared that for the summer. And I don’t want to speak too much on it, with the greatest respect, because he’s not a Celtic player here now with us. But, if we were able to do it, of course we would like to do that. But that’s out of our control at this moment in time.
“Yeah, yeah. And I won’t speak any more on it. Because Kieran, I said the other night, by the summer, will be a Celtic player. And that’s it. And if he’s here later in the month, you’ll know.”
On what Celtic need
Rodgers has been clear from the start of the window on this point, although subsequent activity hasn’t really backed him up: “We know exactly what we want to do. Up to this point the players have been very, very good but we know what we need and what we want.”
After losing to Aston Villa, fans felt Rodgers was perhaps sending another message to the board after bringing on a number of youngsters and his post match comments seemed to back that up: “You see the work we need to do to improve the squad to really be able to sustain that challenge,” he said. We were having to bring on young players who haven’t played for Celtic before. We had to bring on young players who hadn’t played for Celtic before – never mind the Champions League.”
The Celtic boss was at his most emphatic after beating Motherwell the day before the window closed when asked about his deadline day plans: “That is our plan. There’s lots of work going on behind the scenes in order to do that so we’re hopeful that we can. We want to have the strongest squad we possibly can. We’ve lost a couple of players that were important players for us but also players have gone out on loan so we know we want to get into the market to have the strongest squad we can to finish off the season.
“It’s always difficult (at this stage in the window) But there are good players available in January. There’s always the mentality that you can’t get good players but there is availability and we can afford it, so I’d like to think that we can do that.
“My concentration has just been on the games. We’ll see where we’re at by Monday evening. We want to, as a club, improve the squad and hopefully we can do that over the next 24 hours or so.
“The club knows my feelings, they know why I came back. I’m here to enjoy my time at Celtic, not to fall out with myself and do all the things that sometimes I maybe didn’t do the first time. But the demand is still there to improve the squad. We have to. We have to make sure that there’s constant improvement.
“That’s been clear. I don’t need to fall out with anyone over it. Everyone knows what it is we want to do at the club and that’s us all. I’m hopeful that we can do that.
“I don’t expect it to be hectic, but I would hope that we could come out of this window stronger. And that’s always been the plan.”