Many, including us, have scratched our heads as Celtic have failed to shore up a glaring need for an additional striker.
With both Moussa Dembele and Leigh Griffiths injury-prone over the lat 12 months, the need seems very obvious to us. That’s especially the case as Rodgers has set his sights on advancing beyond the group stage.
But, Celtic have been quiet on the striker front during this transfer window. Now we know why, as Rodgers spoke about his hesitancy on signing a third striker. His logic? A third quality striker isn’t coming to play in the Scottish Premier League.
“With all due respect to Scottish football, you can’t have three top strikers,” Rodgers told The Scotsman. “You are not playing in the Premier League or a real competitive league.”
Rodgers went on to say the following to clarify things further:
"“It is equally as tough (here) but in a different way. You cannot bring in another top striker because the dynamic wouldn’t work within the group, within the model of how we play, it is not going to suit us. But it is something that we have to look at. If Moussa is out until that period and Leigh is up and down with his fitness then of course we would have to look to get one in.”"
It is an uncomfortable answer, but one that Rodgers isn’t wrong about. Strikers are a volatile breed of footballers, and the best ones want top football all the time. Sorry to say, Scotland doesn’t provide that, even when talking about Aberdeen and Sevco matches.
When healthy, does a quality third striker have a place on the Celtic squad for SPL matches? I mean, Celtic cruised to an undefeated season even with Dembele and Griffiths missing time together and separately last season.
Sinclair filled in fine, while others were able to maneuver around the midfield and get Celtic over the domestic finish line in record-setting fashion.
Unless Rodgers is looking to find a strike partnership that can help him play a traditional 4-4-2 look when needed, what would be the value of adding another striker at the level of those two?
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That level of thinking makes plenty of sense. But, should Rodgers be looking at the bigger picture? You know, the Champions League picture, where Celtic find their biggest challenges on a yearly basis.
Should Celtic advance to the group stage, perhaps Rodgers changes his tune, especially with a stated goal of getting to the knockout stage.
The problem there seems to be that Celtic are taking a large risk in hoping they can get by with what they have until then — and there’s no guarantee that will happen without a quality striker in play for the next match (and beyond).
We’ll see if Rodgers is right to take that gamble, but this shouldn’t be a “sign another star striker” or don’t sign anyone at all. There has to be a middle ground, one that will allow Celtic to feel secure in having a good option up top as needed.
Look for a young option to develop behind the scenes and get some game action in emergency situations this year. Suddenly you have the replacement or potential replacement for Dembele should he be sold on.
Next: No SPL matches on Fox Sports for American fans
Celtic and Brendan Rodgers certainly have a lot to discuss. It all adds up to a pretty dramatic final month of the transfer window.