Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that he wants to bring ‘a number 10’ to Celtic.
The name of James McCarthy surfaced on the weekend rumour mill while Manchester United’s Bastian Schweinsteiger has been cropping up regularly.
Neither of those Premier League based midfielders could be described as a number 10 but would add massively to the team that Rodgers is creating.
Joe Allen would have fitted Rodgers player profile but with an £11m transfer fee Celtic were never realistically in contention for his signature.
Rodgers has got nine days left to complete his transfer business and knows exactly what he is looking for.
“I would like to add another creator to our game so if we could get someone of that ilk in that would be great,” he explained over the weekend. “Hopefully we can get that done.
“If you’re in the Champions League it may make it more attractive for some players.
“I said to Dermot Desmond and Peter Lawwell when I met them that these guys were champions and I would have a look at them first. I like to see players with my own eyes.
“That’s why we didn’t make early signings, although I felt I knew what I needed. I wanted to assess the squad and we did that.
“Speed was needed in the team and now you can see the dynamic in the team changing with pace in it. If we can add a wee bit more creativity that will help us further.
“And then we will get better the longer the season goes on.”
So far Rodgers has signed Moussa Dembele, Kolo Toure, Scott Sinclair and Dorus de Vries. If he adds to that it promises to be the biggest signing Scottish football has seen in a decade.