Celtic forced into transfer market after key duo ruled out for eight weeks

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers will look to sign a centre-back after Cameron Carter-Vickers and Maik Nawrocki were ruled out for eight weeks.

Carter-Vickers went off halfway through Celtic’s recent league win over Aberdeen with a hamstring issue and the problem is worse than first feared. Summer signing Nawrocki pulled up with with a similar problem towards the end of Celtic’s Viaplay Cup defeat at Kilmarnock on Sunday.

Rodgers was already facing at least the same amount of time without Stephen Welsh, who has had ankle surgery.

The Celtic boss, whose team host St Johnstone on Saturday, said: “It is obviously disappointing for us in terms of Cameron Carter-Vickers, Maik Nawrocki and Stephen Welsh, probably about eight weeks.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers during a training session at Lennoxtown on August 24, 2023, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group)

“Stephen Welsh had an operation just the other day so he has come through that well. The other two we were hopeful would come back sooner, but we sought further scans on them and it puts them probably about eight weeks from now.”

When asked if he would look for reinforcements in that area ahead of next week’s transfer deadline, Rodgers said: “I think we have to look at it, there’s no doubt. It’s an area that we are light on.

“When you are losing three players for that length of time, and knowing the number of games we will have and the importance of every game, then it’s definitely something we have to look at.”