Brendan Rodgers not in Celtic transfer rush despite defensive injury pile up ahead of Premiership opener

Brendan Rodgers insists Celtic won’t be rushed into adding defensive reinforcements despite a growing injury pile-up.

The Hoops boss revealed Yuki Kobayashi will be sidelined for several weeks with three other first team centre-halves, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Carl Starfelt and new arrival Maik Nawrocki all absent from Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Wolves in a glamour friendly in Dublin. As Athletic Bilbao get set to arrive in Glasgow for a final run-out for the Scottish champions ahead of their flag day Premiership opener against Ross County, Rodgers is hoping his treatment table clears in the next few days.

But the Irishman doesn’t believe any new signings will arrive before the clash with the Staggies as he delivered a roll-call of who isn’t currently available for duty. . He said: “Carl twisted his ankle, so he couldn’t travel. Hopefully he’ll be okay for Tuesday. Kobayashi will be out for a few weeks. He obviously got injured in one of the games in Japan.

“Maik Nawrocki tweaked his ankle before he trained with us, but hopefully he’ll be okay for Tuesday and hopefully Tony Ralston and Cam won’t be too far away. They’ve come back training with the squad. It was too soon for them to play. They’ll be back with us in the morning for training and then we’ll see where they’re at for Tuesday.

“I think it was important we brought some players in early on to settle them and allow them to adapt. I didn’t want to wait for people to go before bringing people in.

“But we’d hope we can add some more before the window shuts. Probably after (the Ross County game), there’s still a long way to go in the window.”

Kyogo’s strike against Wolves looked like being enough to claim the win at the Aviva Stadium only for Celtic to concede a late