Don’t expect any marquee arrivals, says Celtic boss
BRENDAN RODGERS last night ruled out a big-money marquee signing in the final weeks of the transfer window. Locked in the tightest title battle for years, the Parkhead side have already signed £2million Ivory Coast striker Vakoun Issouf Bayo, who will arrive in Dubai this morning for his medical, and sealed loan deals for PSG striker Timothy Weah and Scotland winger Oli Burke. American left-back Andrew Gutman has also agreed to become the fourth signing pending the result of a work-permit application. Frustrated by Atalanta’s refusal to sell £6million Belgian international rightback Timothy Castagne, Celtic have now turned their attention to Omar Elabdellaoui of Olympiakos. Asked if any crowd-pleasing marquee signings are likely, however, the Parkhead boss said: ‘I don’t think that’s how Celtic works. ‘The model of the club is value and maximising that value and talent and development and seeing it grow at the club. ‘The young players that have come in fit that model. ‘My job was to develop that, increase that talent within and hopefully they can come in and do a great job for Celtic. Whether they are loan signings or a permanent signing.’ Both Bayo and American college prospect Gutman are expected in Glasgow to finalise deals when the champions return from a week of warm-weather training in Dubai. With Mikael Lustig weighing up a return to Sweden to sign for AIK Stockholm, Rodgers remains in the market for a right-back and club sources have confirmed an interest in Norwegian international Elabdellaoui, a former Stromsgodset and Manchester City player.
Sportsmail understands that interest in Aberdeen’s Scott McKenna has cooled after a £3.5m bid was turned down in the summer. Asked if further signings are likely, Rodgers added: ‘Ideally. I think there are still positions where we would like to get folk in. ‘But we needed to improve the squad, there was no doubt about that. ‘The second part of the season is about bringing in more offensive threats and giving us more options. ‘In the first part of the season you could see that we were not ideal, having to play players out of position and what not. ‘That has just been unfortunate, really. But bringing these guys in really supports the players already there and, once we get the injured players back as well, that gives us something to look forward to.’