Brendan Rodgers lifts lid on lengthy Celtic transfer meeting as he makes 'by end of window' vow

Celtic boss confident of new arrivals after chat with club bosses

Brendan Rodgers has assured Celtic fans that the squad will be strenghtened before the end of the transfer window following a lengthy meeting with chief executive Michael Nicholson and chief financial officer Chris McKay.

Celtic have made two new acquisitons so far this summer – both in the goalkeeper department – with Danish international Kasper Schmeichel joining on a free transfer following his departure from Anderlecht and Viljami Sinisalo making a £1m switch from Aston Villa.

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Schmeichel made an impressive debut in the 4-3 win over Manchester City in the second match of Celtic's US pre-season tour in the early hours of Wednesday morning and afterwards Rodgers stressed that outfield signings are in the pipeline.

Nicolas Kühn celebrates after scoring for Celtic in the 4-3 win over Manchester City in North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)Nicolas Kühn celebrates after scoring for Celtic in the 4-3 win over Manchester City in North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
Nicolas Kühn celebrates after scoring for Celtic in the 4-3 win over Manchester City in North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

"I had a long meeting with Michael and Chris," he said. "We know the targets we want to bring in. There's still a long way to go in the window. We know what we want to do and the priority positions we want to imrpove.

"Whilst the club are getting on with that myself and the coaches are focused on the improvement of the team physically, tactically and technically. By the end of August I would expect us to have the players that we want in."

Rodgers was also asked for an update on the pursuit of Paulo Bernardo as Celtic look to negotiate a permanent transfer for the Benfica midfielder following last season's successful loan spell.

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"There’s nothing new to add, clearly there’s lots of work going on behind the scenes but until there’s any confirmation on it we’ll let you know,” the Northern Iriishman replied.

“I’ll make it clear to the Celtic supporters we want to improve, get better. We don’t want to stand still this season, we know we want to improve the squad and by the end of the window shutting I’d expect us to be that.

“Until that moment there’s a lot of great work going on here with the players, some of the younger players are developing really well. The other players are really tuned into how we’re working and are having a good pre-season which is a good starting point for the season ahead.”

Nicolas Kuhn scored twice and produced a sublime assist for Kyogo Furuhashi as Celtic opened up a 3-1 half-time lead over Pep Guardiola’s men in North Carolina. Erling Haaland was on target as City drew level in the second half before Luis Palma struck the winner.

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Rodgers was full of praise for the performance of German winger Kuhn and believes fans will see the best of him this season as he settles further into life in Glasgow following his January move from Rapid Vienna.

“Hopefully, in the first year, he was adapting and he has come back looking really sharp,” explained the Celtic boss. “He finished his two goals really well. His pass for the third goal was magical. The outside of the right foot and it had to travel a long distance, so two goals and an assist for him was great. We wanted to play him a little bit longer but he just felt a little bit on his knee but he was very good.”

Celtic now go on to face Chelsea on Saturday night in the final match of their American tour in their final warm-up match before getting their Scottish Premiership title defence underway at home to Kilmarnock on Sunday, August 4.

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