Brendan Rodgers facing frantic Celtic transfer rush as boss admits squad IS weaker than Ange Postecoglou's

Brendan Rodgers admits his Celtic squad IS weaker than last season after being rocked by injuries and departures to star men.

The Hoops boss is facing a frantic final week of the transfer window after revealing defenders Cameron Carter-Vickers, Maik Nawrocki and Stephen Welsh are all out for at least two months. Rodgers is also still looking to replace top quality departures Jota and Carl Starfelt while Reo Hatate won’t be back until after next month’s international break.

Record Sport’sChris Sutton has claimed Celts are in worse shape now than the end of last term – and Rodgers agrees. But the Hoops boss – who is understood to be chasing £3.5m-rated Honduran ace Luis Palma – is determined to tool up in the last seven days of the window with the Old Firm derby and Champions League on the horizon. Rodgers said: “Listen, I’m not going to beat about the bush when I’m talking about the bush. The squad is not as strong. That’s the reality.

“We’ve lost top players and we’ve got players out for a period of time, so I can’t disagree with that. The point I will make is that we will work very, very hard here to try to improve the squad.

“There’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes within the recruitment and trying to identify players that fit into the model. That will continue.

“But there is no doubt that we lost a matchwinner in Jota, we lost Starfelt who was a regular player in the squad. You then look at Carter-Vickers being out, a mainstay of the team over the last couple of years. Hatate too. Ok, he’s not quite been at the level that he has been at, but I’m pretty sure he would get to that very soon.

“So, all of a sudden you are missing players of that quality. So, we have to improve, and that is what we will look to