The Celtic transfer lessons that Rodgers must learn from

Brendan Rodgers is officially the manager of Celtic once again.

In a saga that has felt like two months rather than two weeks, the Northern Irishman has signed a three-year deal to return to the club.

His first time in the role brought about unprecedented success, including an Invincible Treble in his opening campaign, as well as a further four trophies across his imperious reign.

Rodgers is evidently a high-quality manager, but one of the big downfalls – particularly in the later years of his tenure – was his recruitment.

With that in mind, here is a look at all of his signings during his first tenure at the club and how they fared in their time at Celtic.

Season 2016-17

Players in – Kristoffer Ajer, Moussa Dembele, Kolo Toure, Scott Sinclair, Dorus de Vries, Cristian Gamboa, Eboue Kouassi

Rodgers’ first two transfer windows were largely successful, particularly with the acquisitions of Dembele and Sinclair, who scored 57 goals in all competitions between them in his maiden campaign in charge.

Both of these players were key in Celtic’s successes that season, with the latter awarded both the SFWA and PFA Player of the Year, while the former was the top goalscorer for the club in his debut season. They both netted at important times during the campaign and were integral to the Invincible Treble. Dembele left for £19 million to Lyon in 2018, with Sinclair moving on in January 2020.

Elsewhere, Toure brought a wealth of experience to the defensive backline, with the 35-year-old reuniting with Rodgers following their Liverpool stint together. He retired at the end of the season and took up a coaching role with the club, eventually following Rodgers to Leicester.

Both Gamboa and de Vries were squad players under Rodgers and played 26 games in total collectively in their first season, with very limited impact in subsequent campaigns.

Although not necessarily a Rodgers signing, Ajer did officially join the club from IK Start in Norway. Sent out on loan to Kilmarnock in his first season at the club, he became a mainstay in the seasons to come under Rodgers and was an ever-present in subsequent successes with the manager at the helm.

READ MORE: Odin Thiago Holm: What Norwegian will bring to Celtic

Season 2017-18

Players in - Jonny Hayes, Kundai Benyu, Olivier Ntcham, Patrick Roberts (loan), Odsonne Edouard (loan), Marvin Compper, Lewis Morgan, Charly Musonda (loan), Scott Bain (loan), Jack Hendry, Leo Mazis

These two transfer windows were much more of a mixed bag in terms of transfers.

On the one hand, some of the deals were really beneficial to the club, especially the loan deal for Odsonne Edouard. He was signed permanently the following summer after making an impact as the club's third-choice striker. In particular, his winning goal in Celtic’s 3-2 victory against Rangers, while down to 10 men, was a catalyst to making his temporary move to the club a permanent one.

Ntcham and Hayes were also solid first-team signings, both contributing to Celtic’s second consecutive treble under the manager, the former scoring in the Scottish Cup final to seal the achievement at Hampden. Hayes would leave upon the expiry of his contract in 2020, while Ntcham got his contract terminated with a year remaining in 2021.

Bain is still at the club, with the goalkeeper happy to be a backup in the current set-up.

However, this is where the recruitment drive started to misfire, though some situations were unfortunate. Roberts returned on loan for a second time, but his season was blighted by injury, meaning a permanent move was not pursued the following summer.

Project signings such as Benyu and Morgan failed to make the grade at the club, with both making little impact heading out on loan before departing shortly after. Mazis only featured for the development side during his time in Scotland.

The January window was a disaster as Compper and Musonda were both high-profile flops in their time at the club, while Hendry failed to impress following his big move from Dundee. He would succeed elsewhere, unlike the other two, but did not make a good impression in Glasgow under Rodgers.

Season 2018-19

Players in – Scott Bain, Odsonne Edouard, Emilio Izaguirre, Daniel Arzani (loan), Youssouf Mulumbu, Filip Benkovic (loan), Armstrong Oko-Flex, Oliver Burke (loan), Timothy Weah (loan), Vakoun Bayo, Marian Shved, Andrew Gutman, Manny Perez, Jeremy Toljan (loan)

Quite possibly the strangest collection of names associated with Celtic, it is easy to separate the good from the bad here.

Edouard signing on a permanent deal was one of the only highs in this list, as he would go on to be Hoops' top scorer for the next three seasons before departing for Crystal Palace. Benkovic was also a success, providing a solid foundation at the back on his loan from Leicester when he was fit.

There are a fair few disasters on this list, though, for different reasons. Arzani’s injury curtailed what looked like a promising loan deal, with the attacker missing a whole year due to an ACL injury sustained on his debut. Izaguirre and Mulumbu were questionable signings at the time, with both living up to that scepticism with their performances on the pitch.

Oko-Flex, Gutman and Perez made a grand total of two first-team appearances for Celtic, with the latter pair failing to register any competitive minutes for the club.

Again, Celtic’s January signings indicated that perhaps the club had lost its way in terms of recruitment. Despite impressing initially, Burke, Weah and Toljan all played bit-part roles, and none of their loans were made permanent at the end of the season.

READ MORE: Celtic confirm Brendan Rodgers as new manager

Bayo was signed as a striker to challenge Edouard and later Griffiths, but he failed to make the grade and was sold to Gent after two years at the club.

Shved did not fare well either, with Rodgers questioning his signing even before he was announced. It was clear that recruitment was out of his hands, which points to why he left the club a little over a month later. The Ukranian moved on after a couple of loan spells and played against his former team in the Champions League last season for Shakhtar Donetsk.

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