Pundit Stephen McGinn has questioned Celtic’s depth after the Hoops have lost four league games in four months, having lost just one in the calendar year of 2024. High-profile exits of Matt O’Riley in the summer and Kyogo in January have meant that, come April, the Hoops look shorter in squad depth, with it being clear that Brendan Rodgers needs further backing in the summer to replace two stars who have yet to be fully replaced.
Daizen Maeda has stepped up in Kyogo’s absence. However, as Sunday’s defeat showed, when Maeda isn’t at it up top, Adam Idah has proven frustrating this season, often sitting on the bench with occasional moments of brilliance. With Celtic failing to sign a striker to replace Kyogo in January, that is now looking all the more confusing given recent results.
Move back to midfield, and at this time last season, Matt O’Riley was in the form of his life – and Celtic signed three midfielders in the summer, which on paper covers his unbelievable output.
But Arne Engels, put simply, isn’t at the level yet to replace O’Riley week in, week out. Like Idah, he has proven a frustrating summer signing, given his club record transfer fee of £11 million from Augsburg.
Expectations of Luke McCowan haven’t been quite as high, given the fact he only signed for £1 million from Dundee, and an injury to Paulo Bernardo has meant the most important areas of the team are weaker in both depth and, most importantly, quality compared to last season.
With McGinn looking to point out that Rodgers doesn’t yet have the quality needed to rotate as much as a Celtic boss should at this stage of the season, after heavy fixture congestion from August onwards.
He said: (Go Radio Football Show), “What you can do is treat them like the big club they want to be in terms of the standards being rock high and I think they have come off it since the Bayern game. I do believe the squad’s not as strong as it should be in terms of, I think the run they went on and over the winter period where they’re playing every three days.
“The squad isn’t good enough for them to make significant changes, even that we speak about Aston Villa, over the week they made seven or eight changes to play a really big game against Nottingham Forest to get the result. I’m not sure celtic are in the position, maybe a tricky away game, they could make seven or eight changes and absolutely guaranteed they’ll be at the same level. So there has been a drop off in individual performances, not just a team.
“I mean, we spoke about I think after 12 games, they conceded four goals. We were speaking on the shows about them setting a new defensive record, domestically for a season.
“I mean, they looked really exciting going forward right from the very first friendlies, the Chelsea Man City games.
“They looked electric going forward and at the back you’re thinking, how’s the team going to score against?”
McGinn is, in some ways, spot on: Celtic lack the depth that Rodgers should have by now. But put into the context that Arne Engels, Auston Trusty, and Adam Idah cost a reported £26 million combined in the summer, it means that spending hefty fees on players doesn’t always guarantee quality, with each of the three at times proving frustrating this season.
It is the question for Brendan Rodgers in the summer: will he be backed by the board to add far greater depth to take the team up a level next season, or whether he will once again have to make do with limited resources and a squad that isn’t fully equipped for the challenges ahead in four competitions.
