Brendan Rodgers demands 'much stronger' Celtic squad for next season

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has stressed he wants a "much stronger" squad for next season.

Victory over Rangers on Saturday put the cinch Premiership champions on the verge of retaining their title but by his own admission Rodgers has faced the most challenging season of his career.

It was notable that all 11 players who started against the Gers had arrived at Celtic Park before last summer, when Rodgers returned for his second spell.

The team lost key players such as Giorgios Giakoumakis, Josip Juranovic, Aaron Mooy and Jota in the first half of 2023 and Liel Abada barely featured under Rodgers before also moving on.

Lengthy lay-offs for the likes of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Reo Hatate put further pressure on the depth of Celtic's squad during the campaign.

Of the nine players who arrived last summer, only Luis Palma, Yang Hyun-jun and loan player Paulo Bernardo have hit double figures in terms of starts and Rodgers previously gave strong hints he would have wanted more quality rather than quantity.

Looking ahead to this summer's transfer window, Rodgers said: "We have to (improve the squad). That's pretty clear. But I'm really excited about that moving forward into a real, bright future with this club.

"This season has been a real challenge. The squad is openly not as strong as I would have liked it to have been.

"What the players have given me has been absolutely brilliant but our job going into next year is to be stronger. Much stronger. But that's something that is well under way."

With Joe Hart retiring, a goalkeeper is an obvious priority but Rodgers has also hinted he would like to strengthen the defence while the end of loan deals for Bernardo and Republic of Ireland international Adam Idah will create vacancies in