Brendan Rodgers is predicting a Celtic clearout in January as he looks to trim back his bloated squad.
The Hoops boss – who revealed Reo Hatate is facing up to four months out with a hamstring tear – has a first-team group of 32 and he admitted he’d rather operate with a more streamlined side.
Rodgers is still out to bring new faces when the transfer window opens but will need to make some space.
Rodgers said: “It is more quality than quantity. There will be more out than coming in.
There will be players who will be here for six months and won’t have played. It is no fault of them.
The squad is obviously a lot bigger than I would want, so there will be more players who will look to go out and get game time.
And, of course, hopefully over the coming windows we can look to improve the quality of the squad. Your squads are 25, which is 22 plus three goalkeepers. It is not ideal.
“There were younger players who were going to come in and see how they develop.
Then there was the notion – which I know for sure was the case – that there were some guys who were thinking of leaving before I came in.
Then obviously a new manager comes into the club and there can be a change of heart. They don’t leave, they stay and that is how your squad ends up where it is at now.
“So it is that mixture between players coming in to develop and ones who decided to stay and not move on.
But over the course of the next couple of windows we’ll get the squad down to a workable group.”
Listen, we have enough – what I would say – development players. I think it is clear. And I love that, it is what I have done all my life is work with those players.
But you certainly need ones who can come in, so it is genuine quality we hope we can bring in across the coming windows.”
Rodgers admitted he side has lost a chunk of the quality he craves with Hatate out long term. The midfielder is still getting scans but the early signs are it is a grade four tear – the most serious kind – which could rule him out of action until February at the earliest.
Rodgers conceded the playmaker would not be seen in hoops until after Christmas and Japan’s Asia Cup campaign at the end of January is also unlikely.
The Northern Irishman said: “Without knowing exactly, it’s definitely going to be after Christmas before he’s back.
Sometimes the hamstrings can be naughty, so it’s just a shame for him. It wasn’t great news. It was a stage four level injury, which wasn’t great.
He had one towards the end of last season on the hamstring on the other side and he’s had a calf problem earlier this season as well.
So this gives us a chance to investigate with him and run through every fine detail of it – because his calf and hamstring have happened early in the games.
There are lots of things that can happen with footballers and how they work. So we’ll look at it and investigate every part of his training programme and what he does away from here… and see if we can help and support him.
“His season has been broken. He was starting to find that rhythm again in his training, getting into the team and looking exactly what I want from him.
He was starting to perform, so to then break down is such a real shame for him and for us because he’s a very good player.”
However, Hoops full-back Alistair Johnston has been passed fit to face St Mirren on Wednesday.