He will want to move on a lot of players- former defender predicts Rodgers’ summer of changes

Alan Stubbs is predicting a massive turnover of players at Celtic this summer regardless of whether the league is won or not.

With nine matches left to go there is all to play for but what Celtic will look like next season is almost impossible to guess.

In November Brendan Rodgers revealed that he had wanted four quality additions when he returned to the club but in January Nicolas Kuhn was the only permanent arrival.

Joe Hart has announced that he will retire in May, with interest from Matt O’Riley expected to resurface the Treble winning squad from Ange Postecoglou will be down to a hardy core.

Stubbs has watched his old club enjoy the sort of success that couldn’t have been dreamt of when Tommy Burns signed him from Bolton in 1996 but is concerned about the way recruitment has operated this season.

Speaking to the Daily Record the former Hibs boss said:

I think we all understand and realise that Brendan was given assurances when he came that this was going to happen.

That hasn’t happened. I think looking at Brendan’s body language you can see that he can’t come out and say it but he has to do what he can with this group of players until the end of the season.

I think once he gets to the end of the season you will see a lot of changes at Celtic, irrespective of what happens and I believe Brendan will give recommendations to the board that there are a lot of players in that squad whom he will want to be moved on.

With Mark Lawwell’s resignation announced last Friday the recruitment picture at Celtic is unclear.

The scouting team will still be assessing players in preparation for the summer but the focus on younger inexperienced players to be developed seems unlikely to be continued.

Plans for the summer should be well underway by now but with very little being communicated out of Celtic Park there are no indicators over what direction the club is likely to move in.