EXPECT things to move quickly from here.
Brendan Rodgers has cut a noticeably relaxed figure since he walked back through the doors of Celtic Park last month, but you feel the time for ‘assessing’ is coming to its end. That’s been the manager’s go-to phrase of late, positioning himself as the all-seeing eye as he ruminates over what form his second Celtic team will take.
The now-concluded tour of Japan was the perfect opportunity to see it all up close, a week to observe his squad up close and decide who fits into it, and where. Undoubtedly, futures will have been decided by the time Celtic touch back down in Glasgow, and this new era will surely move into a higher.
Saturday’s win over Gamba Osaka, which featured two different XIs, is likely to be the last of the heavy rotation prevalent in the early stages of pre-season. Before the game, Rodgers intimated that the ‘core’ of his squad would be prioritised for minutes in the final friendlies against Wolves and Athletic Club.
Those two matches, then, should offer a glimpse into how he envisions Celtic lining up when Ross County come to Glasgow on August 5. Given their many stylistic similarities, Rodgers was never going to rip up the Ange Postecoglou handbook entirely, but he has made subtle tweaks which will become ever-more prominent as the weeks progress and a squad built almost entirely in the previous manager’s image become increasingly accustomed to his methods.
One certainty from the two matches in Japan is the manager clearly views Reo Hatate as of the utmost importance. When the midfielder was on the pitch, almost everything went through him, and it’s little wonder why. So often, he looked a class above, the change from Postecoglou’s 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1 moving him in alongside Callum McGregor to exert a greater influence in the early stages of the team’s build-up.
Premier League interest will inevitably continue to simmer around the 25-year-old, however, and he did not exactly shut down the prospect when speaking to Japanese media on Saturday. These interviews should be taken cautiously, though, as context can often be lost in translation. That Hatate views his future as being in one of Europe’s elite leagues will be of no surprise to Celtic fans, who are growing increasingly accepting of the club’s status in football’s distorted pecking order. They will hope it just doesn’t transpire this summer.
Celtic have already made big bucks from the £25million sale of Jota to Al-Ittihad, and will feel absolutely no pressure to sell should richer clubs come calling. Rodgers was asked directly about said interest earlier this week, and reading between the lines of his response pointed to a firm belief Hatate would be around to play in the Champions League come September.
That continental stage was among Rodgers’ primary motivators in returning to Glasgow, and with it came an expectation that the club were ready to spend considerable amounts to facilitate a real challenge against the European elite. But it was a narrative that Rodgers seemed to somewhat bristle at in speaking to the press out in Japan, suggesting there was an inference he had only been drawn back to Scotland by the prospect of receiving backing on a different level to any other Celtic manager.
It might just quell the notion that Celtic are going to shatter transfer records this summer, even with the club accounts significantly bolstered by Jota’s departure. The prospect of eight-figure fees was an exciting one for supporters, obviously, but the club have taken an established transfer model and refined it impressively over the past two years. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it, etc, etc.
Signing business has been efficient, so far. Odin Thiago Holm and Marco Tilio were lined up before Rodgers’ arrival and their acquisitions were quickly signed off and completed. Paperwork may be holding up official announcements for Yang Hyun-Jun and Kwon Hyeok-Kyu but they are, by all accounts, done deals.
Legia Warsaw centre-back Maik Nawrocki looks set to be next on a five-year contract to add the defensive cover many suspected Rodgers would be keen to add. Not having Champions League qualifiers to fret over may have eased the need for urgency, but Celtic seem to be operating as functionally as ever in the market, and the prospect of any deadline day scrambles feel remote at this juncture.
It’s a drama-free approach, a telltale sign that the recruitment department is working as it should be. The number of incomings, however, will surely dictate that some amount of deck clearing will be necessary. Those who did not make the journey to Japan will surely be first to head for the exit door, albeit Albian Ajeti is reportedly in no hurry to walk away from the final year of his contract.
Elsewhere, though, the process has already begun with the lesser-spotted Liam Shaw joining Wigan Athletic on-loan for the season. But uncertainty surrounds some of those who were involved in the Far East, namely the likes of Liam Scales, whose prospects of playing time are surely not improved by Nawrocki’s imminent arrival. There have been murmurs that he could return to Aberdeen, where he spent last term on-loan.
And then there are the likes of David Turnbull, involved semi-regularly under Postecoglou but mainly from the bench. The Scotland international looked sharp against Gamba, but you feel he is approaching a career crossroads. Having just turned 24, he needs to be playing every week, but can Celtic still offer him that? That midfield area looks particularly packed.
As Rodgers hones in on the players he sees as first-choice over the next few weeks, where that leaves others will start to become clearer. Either way, it’s been a rather serene summer at Celtic Park, even the disappointment of losing Jota was softened by that astronomical fee, and there’s been a calm assuredness about Rodgers from the moment he arrived back.
Serenity? In Glasgow? With titles on the line, derbies to be contested and a seat at Europe’s top table all to come, it surely cannot last.
