NO RESTING ON OUR LAURELS: Rogers vows to make Celtic even stronger in January transfer window

Brendan Rodgers has vowed to use the January transfer window to make Celtic even stronger.

The Parkhead side shattered their transfer record twice to sign Adam Idah and Arne Engels in the summer.

Victory over Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Wednesday night would see the champions tighten their grip on the Premiership title by opening up a seven-point gap at the summit, with Rangers then lying in wait in the final of the Premier Sports Cup at Hampden a week on Sunday.

But regardless of what transpires over a huge fortnight of games – when Celtic could also secure a place in the Champions League play-offs – Rodgers confirmed plans to bolster his squad in the new year.

Keen to add a left-sided wide attacker and a third striker, the Celtic boss said: ‘I think we’ll definitely look. There’s still areas that I would like to improve in the squad. Absolutely no question about that.

‘We can’t do everything in the summer (window). We’ve done a lot of great work in there.

Idah, second from left, was one of Celtic’s record transfers but Rodgers wants more players

Celtic captain Callum McGregor prepares for Wednesday’s crucial trip to Pittodrie

‘But there’s definitely one or two areas just to, again, give that freshness to the squad as well. And give that quality. So it’s important that we keep building.

‘All the players will learn, develop, they’ll get better. But you need to always provide competition and that’s something I’ll always look at.’

Rodgers made six changes to his starting 11 for last Saturday’s clash with Ross County, four of the replacements making an impact with goals in a 5-0 rout.

Victory in the Granite City tonight would make the champions huge favourites to retain the title for a fourth straight year ahead of huge games against Dinamo Zagreb and Rangers.

Determined to avoid the curse of ‘contentment’, a hungry Rodgers wants to keep moving forward on all fronts.

‘I never say complacency, but contentment is something that you don’t want to have,’ he said.

‘You don’t want to be content, you don’t want to be happy.

‘You always have to be improving and developing and that’s something that we as a club want to be able to do.

Luke McCowan has really impressed Rodgers since he signed from Dundee

Furuhashi shows a clean pair of heels before the Premiership match with Aberdeen

Keepers Kasper Schmeichel and Viljami Sinisalo discuss tactics ahead of Pittodrie showdown

‘I think we’ve been able to, in the last couple of winters, really energise the squad and bring it to a level that allows us to work at how we’re working at the moment.’

Delighted with the contribution of the players who came in against Ross County, Rodgers singled out man of the match Luke McCowan for praise.

Pleased with the way the former Dundee captain has adapted to life at his boyhood favourites, the Parkhead boss believes the 26-year-old midfielder could go on to play for Scotland.

‘I don’t think there’s any question of that if you look at the tools he has,’ added Rodgers.

‘Not every good player can play at international level. For me, it’s about technique, technical idea, and having a level of speed that allows you mobility to get around the field.

‘So you’ll have some really good players, but maybe they aren’t quite cut out for that mobility and fast pace at international level.

‘Luke has that. If I look at him technically, physically, that was the analysis we did before bringing him in to see where he was at in terms of his running power, his physicality. So that’s there at a really, really high level. So we know he can do that.

‘Technically, he’s finding the comfort now in the game. Tactically, like I said, you see how quickly now he’s adapted.

‘He’s a joy to work with. It’s the beauty of having players like Callum MacGregor (alongside him), because then you create more Callum MacGregors.

‘That’s why you have top, top professionals. The learning that he will get on a day-to-day basis from seeing the likes of Callum and working with the coaches and myself, you have to be curious, you have to want to learn. He’s certainly one of those.

‘Luke and Paulo Bernardo were brilliant at the weekend in terms of how they linked together. So that tells you he’s learning all the concepts and principles of how we play. ‘He has personality and, there’s absolutely no doubt, you play for Celtic and he’s going to be able to play for Scotland, for sure.’