Brendan Rodgers wanted more summer signings at Celtic; nine new players joined the club; Celtic face Livingston on Saturday, live on Sky Sports; kick-off 12.30pm

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has stressed he was not “content” with his
club’s summer transfer business.

In the week the club announced a record annual profit of £40.7m, Rodgers admitted he wanted more signings before the September 1 deadline.

Nine players joined Celtic during the summer, including two on loan, with defender Maik Nawrocki picking up an injury after two Scottish Premiership appearances.

Striker Marco Tilio has yet to make his debut after he injured himself while away with the Australia Under-23s.

When asked if he was content with the business, Rodgers said: “No. No, I think if you ask any manager they will always be wanting more, of course.

“But we work with the players that are here. I’m not saying that in any disrespectful way, I think every manager will tell you they maybe wished they could have done one or two more signings.

“The window closed, we had the players we had in and I’m a coaching manager and we will work with the very, very best players at our disposal to make our performance level the best we can possibly be.

“And now we are preparing already for the January window and the summer window.”

Celtic lost three regulars from their treble-winning squad in Jota, Carl Starfelt and Aaron Mooy, and now have a larger but arguably less experienced squad.

Rodgers said: “Listen, if you look at the strategy of the club, it’s signing the younger players to develop and improve.

“I think I have said it before here, that to maximise that potential, of course, you need that balance in your squad.

“You need quality and you need experience, and that will obviously help and support potential that you have.

“So that’s something that hopefully over the course of my time here the squad can regenerate into that way.”

Rodgers admitted pre-match in Rotterdam that his team were not at “peak Celtic”, but there were positive signs during the game before a soft opening goal from a free-kick and the two red cards undermined their chances.

When asked how close they were to clicking into gear, Rodgers said: “It’s time. A lot of young players coming into the squad, coming into the team.

“It’s a different team even from when I agreed to come in, looking at the players who have moved on and the players we have brought into the club.

“It takes that little bit of time and obviously when you are missing key players, key players can influence the level at which you play the game.

“But thankfully Reo Hatate, he had another 55-60 minutes the other night, so that’s really good for him in terms of match practice because he has not played so much. When he gets up to speed, he will show he is a fantastic player.

“A few others are coming back a little bit later, but I would anticipate us getting better as the season goes on.”

Nat Phillips remains a doubt for Saturday’s trip to face Livingston in the cinch Premiership after missing Tuesday’s European clash in Rotterdam.

“Nat had a heavy roll on his ankle last weekend,” Rodgers said. “We will give him another 24 hours. He has been out on the pitch so we will just assess it from there.”

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