Brendan Rodgers has made it clear Celtic must raise the bar in the transfer market after their pre-season thumping at the hands of Ajax.
Rodgers had seen plenty to be positive about during a decent first half and earlier wins over Sporting Lisbon and Newcastle, but this result gave him a dose of reality.
The Irisgman knows there’s no time to waste in adding fresh faces, as he stressed the importance of improving the group before competitive action gets underway.
He said: (RecordSport), “Yes, it depends what your ambition is. If your ambition is to really progress and push forward, then we need to improve the squad.
“But I can’t fault the players. The players that are here, they’ve been working so well, so hard and you see some of the play and how they work has been very, very good.
“However, if you want to progress, then, as I said, you need to bring in quality and that’s something that we hopefully can do.”
Rodgers’ message to the board is plain: back the current group with the kind of quality signings that can take them to the next level.
He’s happy with the application and effort of those already in the building but knows that won’t be enough to make the kind of mark he wants in Europe.
Celtic fans have seen encouraging signs across most of pre-season, but the Ajax loss has brought underlying issues back to the surface.
With the league opener fast approaching, the pressure is growing for the club to act swiftly in the transfer market.
