Brendan Rodgers' first Celtic pre-season press conference in full

Can we start by getting an injury update as there is talk of Alistair Johnston being out for a while and Cameron Carter-Vickers as well?

With regards to both of those players, Cameron is doing very well. He is out on the pitch but obviously with the surgery he had after the semi-final he is doing really well. He looks strong so he's progressing and is well on schedule to be back and that's good news. Alistair (Johnston) had an issue when he came back from international duty and he had a slight problem with his ankle. He's had that operation where he has had a couple of bits removed from the ankle and it was successful. He is out here in Portugal with us and it is probably a six to eight-week injury but hopefully, he will be back sooner than that. He'll progress really well and it is better to have it done at this stage of the season rather than sometime in the season.

You have had a bit of time to assess some of the squad now how much transfer business do you envisage doing in this window?

We'll look to improve as it is the best time to improve when the team has done really well and been successful. I always feel that is the best time to improve and increase the competition in the squad. That competition is always good for the players. We've got some more work to do but I am very confident that I will be able to do that.

Can you give us a sense of where you feel Celtic are at in your second stint, obviously the first time you took over it was a lot different taking over from Rony Deila. The club is in a different shape, Rangers were in a much weaker position than they are now. What is your assessment of where you are at and the work that needs to be done?

Clearly the team and the club are in a really good place. I will go back to the first time I came in and you have got to give respect to Ronny. He did an excellent job in the couple of years he was here. He won trophies and then I came in and my job was to come in and continue that good work. We had a near-on-three-year spell which was very good. I have now come back in four years later and the club is very stable off the pitch and there are really good processes and structures in place. The infrastructure around the club is excellent and of course, the team is a young team but it has more development still left in it. It is two different periods of course but I am as equally excited coming in now and looking forward to the years ahead.

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We are excited about Mikey Johnston and the progress he has made in Portugal. Is part of your remit or your ambition to get him more involved this year and make sure he is nailed down?

Not really. That's always Mikey's job. His job is to convince myself and the coaches that he is ready for a place. Sadly for Mikey, he is going to be out for a few more months as he had an issue with his back. He'll be out for near on three months. It is the player's responsibility. They have to show the quality and the consistency. They have to show that robustness in order to play. That is the job of every player.

Europe is a big focus for you. Champions League group stage football is a huge boost. What do you think you need to do to get far in the Champions League this season?

We have to be realistic. It is really exciting and it is a competition that is the highest level that you can play in at club football. I think what's important for us is that we are really competitive against the top, top-level teams. European football is all about trying to get as far as we can in whatever competition we are in. When we arrive at the Champions League, our ambition is to qualify out of the group stage. That is a huge challenge but it is a challenge that we will embrace. If not then we want to ensure that we secure European football after Christmas and go as far as we possibly can.

How hard is it to lose a player of Jota's calibre and are the funds from his sale being made available to you?

Jota had a great spell in a couple of years that he was here. There is no doubt that he was a huge success. I was looking forward to working with him but the kid had been given a life-changing offer. There is no doubt that when he was here he loved being at the club. He enjoyed his life in Glasgow and from a football perspective, there are not too many better places to play football than in Glasgow. However, the modern game for a lot of players is also a business for them and their careers are short. He has been given an opportunity to go and look after himself and his family and we have to respect that. He's gone and we have some really talented players here, but we would like to do some business to improve that area of the team as well.

After tying down deals for Kyogo (Furuhashi), (Daizen) Maeda and Callum (McGregor) are there any more deals in the pipeline for Hatate (Reo) and Cameron (Carter-Vickers)?

There is nothing pending at the moment. Those guys were up for renewals and it was important. People talk about players coming in but it is very important to keep your best players when you can. The two guys signing along with Callum is a fantastic boost for the squad. Kyogo and Daizen have been outstanding players for Celtic. To tie them down was great business by the club. For Callum to extend his time for another five years is absolutely brilliant news for the club. He is such a pivotal player now and he is the real heartbeat of the team. Also how he leads the team is superb and I am really happy that he has committed. If we can get some more strength in over the coming weeks then it will put us in a great place to take on all the challenges for the season.

I just want to speak to a little bit about your return to Celtic because you were hugely successful the first time around so now that you’re returning: What’s the ambition? Where do you want to bring the club to and ascend the club to a higher level on your return in this stint?

I think the ambition is to continue the success that the club has had and of course, we want to keep developing in Europe. Our bread and butter – I’ve said it before - is in Scotland and at home – in order to achieve anything in Europe we have to ensure that we dominate in Scotland. Then the ambition is to go as far as we possibly can in Europe – it’s a huge challenge with the teams and the investments of teams but it doesn’t stop allowing us to dream and that is the exciting part ahead.

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There wasn’t anything specifically that you felt you might have left undone that you would really like to achieve on your return?

Of course, domestically, we achieved everything that we wanted to achieve. European football is always the challenge for a club like ourselves but we want to have probably more success than that I think. I read somewhere about Celtic not having a knockout win for such a long time but for me it’s ensuring that domestically we continue with that success and of course see what we can do in Europe and that’s a big ambition.

Just on the upcoming game against Wolves at the Aviva Stadium. There’s obviously going to be huge excitement and the atmosphere is going to be electric. It’s a good pre-season game anyway because it’s a good challenge in terms of the level of the club that you’re playing. What’s the significance of bringing Celtic to Dublin?

It's great. When I seen the Wolves game on the schedule – then it was going to be in Korea – I always felt that was a really good opponent for us but obviously sadly the Korean leg of our tour was cancelled. We couldn’t of asked for it to be in a better place. I think it’s so important for a club like Celtic - you travel the world – it’s a worldwide institution. In these preseasons now when you do not have qualification games – I think it’s great when you can take Celtic and the club that it is to other countries, but to take it to Ireland – of course being Irish – it’s really, really special. There are thousands of supporters every single week – they make a huge sacrifice financially and their time and everything because Celtic is their life and for lots of supporters it ends up being nearly a 24-hour trip just to get across to Scotland to watch the games and back again, so to be able to reward those supporters and bring the team over to Ireland is really, really special and I look forward to that. The Aviva is a brilliant stadium – obviously, I’ve been there before and took the team there – so I’m looking forward to it.