Three is the magic number. It is if you are Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers and talking about strikers. In the aftermath of Celtic's one-sided 4-0 romp against MLS outfit DC United in Washington, Rodgers's views on his attacking department made for very interesting reading.

The Scottish champions are currently operating with one main striker at the club - Japanese forward Kyogo Furuhashi - and in an ideal world, Rodgers would have three at his disposal as he outlined. The 51-year-old said: "I think my ideal scenario was to have three, was to have Kyogo, one other one and bring through a young player. That was the role we came up with for Rocco Vata.

“It’s very difficult for a club of this size to have three number one strikers. You can live with two because we play so many games and the specific nature of the games then we can change it about. Three is very difficult. But I also think for development I want to bring some young, maybe a player from within.

“Rocco was that but he’s moved on. So we may have to look elsewhere. But three is a really good number. Two, I would say to be number one strikers, and one that we can nurture and develop.”

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Vata grew sick and tired of waiting around Glasgow's east end for his first team opportunity and felt his immediate future would be best served at Watford. For Vata, read Johnny Kenny. Celtic may now turn their attention to loanee Kenny who hit the headlines recently following a double in Shamrock Rovers’ Champions League qualifying first-round victory over Icelandic side Vikingur Reykjavik.

The Republic of Ireland Under-21 international produced two superb finishes to send his side through to face Sparta Prague. Kenny has hit the top of his game back home in his native Ireland having plundered ten goals in 24 appearances in all competitions this season. Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley labelled him ‘the best forward in the country by a mile’. Rodgers should be all over this then if he wants a youngster to fit the bill as a Celtic No.3 striker.

That is a solution to at least one of Rodgers' problems concerning an attacking triumvirate. What about the second number one then? Who is that going to be? Admittedly, the club have dragged their heels on the Adam Idah transfer from Norwich City after submitting a £4.5 million opening bid on July 3rd for the Republic of Ireland international who plundered nine goals for Celtic and helped them lift the title and Scottish Cup last season.

Rodgers made public proclamations and statements at the end of the season as to how he felt about Idah being brought on board permanently. The player knew his feelings and the Celtic hierarchy was under no illusion as to where the manager stood on concluding this particular piece of business.

With the clock ticking down to flag day the goal trail has gone cold on Idah. There seems to be a current impasse as well as a stalemate over the levels of the transfer fee. Idah is still plying his trade for the Canaries and featuring in their pre-season games. That's not to say that both teams will not thrash out a deal before the end of the transfer window. Although, Matt O'Riley is still turning out for the men in green and white despite the subject of constant speculation and bids from the likes of Atalanta. In that sense, it cuts both ways. No club does a transfer window like Celtic - do they?

Rodgers though simply has to get his man and his way when it comes to Idah. The optics on that one will not augur well moving forward if Idah does not become a Celtic player before the end of August won't look good.

(Image: SNS Group)

The decision to sell Oh Hyeon-gyu to Genk for £4.2 million without making sure they had a new striker signed, sealed and delivered has also baffled the fans because they feel that the club have now left themselves ridiculously short of cover in the attacking areas.

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Let's be brutally honest here, Oh was never going to cut the mustard as a Celtic player or become a regular starter up front so Rodgers took an executive decision on that one. might well have felt the club's best interests were served by cutting their losses and grabbing what they could for him whilst the South Korean's stock was reasonably high. That was the correct business decision for Celtic.

Now, Japanese international Daizen Maeda can fill in as a striker as he has been deployed in that area before and he does turn out for the Samurai Blue in the No. 9 position. Temporarily that would represent a fix of sorts. Celtic have also been linked with Idah and Aberdeen striker Bojan Miovksi. From a purely selfish standpoint and all things being equal then the club would sign both forwards.

Rodgers' Celtic plays with one striker and it is usually a focal point up front. He wants the two top strikers at the club to riff off each other, challenge each other and bring out the best in both. The third is always going to be in reserve and used sparingly but only in emergencies. However, the plan would be for any young striker to study closely what the two main men are doing in training every day and how they go about their business both domestically and in Europe.

By studying strikers' movement as well as the type of goals they score they surely they could put that knowledge and expertise to good use whenever the manager deemed it was their turn to fill the No. 9 jersey. That kind of education would be golden and invaluable to any young aspiring attacking hopeful at a club like Celtic. Healthy competition for places is never a bad thing. If you sign good players, then you become a good team. A good manager like Rodgers would be able to keep them all sweet despite operating a rotational selection policy and a 'horses for courses' approach as we witnessed in some key games last season when Kyogo and Idah were fighting out for the starting slot.

As it stands, Rodgers may now possibly need to sign two strikers anyway. Celtic cannot contemplate going into the new campaign with Kyogo as the only recognisable striker at the club. Rodgers' team need a striker who can not only compete with Kyogo for the starting slot but could also partner him if Celtic decides to mix it up a bit and go two up top at any point. Thus far with 12 days to go until the 2024/25 Scottish Premiership kick-off against Kilmarnock at Parkhead, Celtic have brought no outfield players in. That is soul-destroying for the Celtic fans.

Ideally, Celtic and Rodgers want 'two number one strikers'. In the interim, the Celtic supporters would gladly settle for signing another attacker. After all, two out of three ain't bad but three is the magic number for Rodgers and Celtic, right?

Although you get the feeling that the Celtic supporters have reached the point where signing an outfield player - any outfield player - but a striker in particular - would be good for the collective 'De La Soul'.