Rodgers is sketchy on his post Lawwell plans

Brendan Rodgers has spoken about his recruitment intentions for the first time since Mark Lawwell left the club.

On his return last June the Irishman praised the brilliant work being done by the chairman’s son but not many fans shared his enthusiasm.

Last summer Tomoki Iwata’s loan was converted to a permanent move followed by seven signings all under the age of 24 with only Maik Nawrocki costing more than £3m.

Marco Tilio, Kwon Hyeok-kyu and Nawrocki were left out of Celtic’s Champions League squad with Luis Palma the only new face to make a positive impact before the dead rubber win over Feyenoord thanks to a late goal from Gus Lagerbielke. The Swede has started one match since September.

Much surgery is required on the Celtic squad, both incoming and outgoing with no update from the club on Lawwell’s successor or a new structure to avoid the mistakes of the last four transfer windows.

Without giving any detail or specifics Rodgers was full of enthusiasm when he told the Daily Record of his summer plans:

I’m really excited about next season, having now had a look at this group. I’ve seen players who were out for a while and I want to develop this squad.

There’s a lot of work going on on that front. Is it a chance to put my stamp on it? Yeah, because I think we lost influential players (last summer) who make the game look different. Those players weren’t just good footballers but they were personalities.

It’s hard when you lose that personality from the team. The guys have been great this season with everything that’s been thrown at them but it’s about seeing what it needs, how it can develop and grow.

I had to give guys who were here an opportunity because they’d just come off the back of a Treble-winning season but I also know because of my experience in football – especially at clubs like Celtic – that there’s a revolving door every three or four years.

Even if you’re a winning team you have to fire up the squad again. That’s something we’ll look at doing in the summer.

Liel Abada’s transfer to Charlotte FC in midweek was the fourth key member of the treble winning squad to leave Celtic.

With Joe Hart retiring and Matt O’Riley likely to move on Celtic look like starting next season with a vastly different side to the one that clinched the treble last June with a 3-1 victory over Inverness Caley Thistle under Ange Postecoglou.