I FEEL YOUR PAIN: Rodgers admits he can understand frustration of Celtic fans after transfer window woe

Brendan Rodgers claims he can understand Celtic fans’ frustrations at seeing Kyogo Furuhashi sold without a suitable replacement being drafted in by the close of the transfer window. Despite the Japanese forward’s £10million switch to Rennes going through on January 27, the Parkhead club were unable to source another out-and-out striker in the following week. Although Rodgers will look to utilise inexperienced youngster Johnny Kenny more often, and has the option of playing Daizen Maeda through the middle, he admits his squad is lighter than he’d ideally like.

With Maeda suspended for next week’s first leg of the Champions League play-off against Bayern Munich, many supporters are dismayed Furuhashi was allowed to leave without an alternative waiting in the wings. Asked if he could understand that frustration, the manager said: ‘Yeah, 100 per cent. ‘Listen, I said it myself. We want another striker, so we’re not hiding behind anything. Rodgers says he can understand why fans were frustrated by failure to replace Kyogo.

Jeffrey Schlupp was the only new arrival just ahead of the transfer deadline on Monday night. Adam Idah is now Rodgers' main striker after the departure of Kyogo to Rennes in France. ‘And absolutely, the supporters will look and see our top striker going out, a legendary striker, and we haven’t replaced it. ‘So, I understand that. But all I can do is affect what we have now and look to teach and work very, very hard and finish off what has been, until now, a great season for us.’.

Asked if it was a mistake to let Furuhashi depart without having another striker nailed down, Rodgers added: ‘Some people will say that, but you don’t have the depth of knowledge that I have on the player and working with him and going back to the summer. ‘You can very easily say, you should really have someone in the door before you let him go. But there was a situation with that player which meant that wasn’t the case.

‘And that was something that had been running for a number of months, not just for the few days before he left.’. Celtic did secure the return of star winger Jota from Rennes, with Jeffrey Schlupp coming in from Crystal Palace until the end of the season. Kieran Tierney has also agreed to rejoin from Arsenal in the summer. But with Rodgers now light on options up front, the overall view of the window has been mixed.

‘I think we brought in some really good players,’ Rodgers stressed. Portuguese winger Jota was brought in last month for his second spell at Celtic Park. Winger Maeda could give Rodgers an option through the middle if Idah is unavailable. Luke McCowan is clearly in a good mood ahead of his return to Dens Park on Wednesday night. ‘Could we have done better? Yes, we could. ‘Probably one or two things didn’t quite drop for us that we would have liked.

‘I think it’s something that I said - clearly we wanted to have that support at the top end of the field. ‘There’s a myth around you can’t get good players in January, which I would totally disagree with. ‘I think you can. In virtually all my career, I’ve got really good players - some world-class players - in the January window. ‘But it’s sometimes about the availability, it’s sometimes about the affordability.

‘And then there is a little bit of a premium in January, of course, in this period where you may have to pay a little bit more. But that’s natural.’. The manager was reluctant to point a finger at any individual for the failure to get the player he wanted. Rodgers admits the Scottish champions could have done better in their bid to replace Kyogo. Japanese striker Kyogo was allowed to join French club Rennes for £10million last month.

‘Listen, I don’t want to pin blame on anyone here,’ he said. ‘I think as a collective, it wasn’t ideal how it ended for us. So, what we have to do, as a club, is now go away and look at that, that’s what you have to do. ‘Listen, there’s no doubt the squad is lighter. ‘But we’ll work hard, we’ll focus in on this next four months which is a really exciting period for us.’. Celtic face Dundee in the Premiership on Wednesday evening, then Raith Rovers in the Scottish Cup on Saturday.

But there will be no question of Rodgers taking main striker Adam Idah out of the firing line ahead of Munich. ‘No, you’ve got to be robust,’ he said. ‘You can’t want to play every game and then look for a rest.’. Despite his disappointment over the transfer window, the manager is adamant that he won’t let the matter linger. ‘With experience, you learn not to kill your joy over things that you can’t actually control,’ he said.