Rodgers looking to bring in experience to fill Celtic’s defensive void

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers will look to bring in experience to fill a central defensive void after his injury situation worsened.

Cameron Carter-Vickers and Maik Nawrocki have both been ruled out for around eight weeks with hamstring injuries after Stephen Welsh was consigned to a similar length of absence with ankle ligament damage.

Carter-Vickers went off halfway through Celtic’s recent league win over Aberdeen, two games into his comeback from knee surgery, and his problem is worse than first feared.

Summer signing Nawrocki pulled up with a similar problem in the final seconds of Celtic’s Viaplay Cup defeat at Kilmarnock on Sunday.

The Celtic boss, who will also be missing centre-back Yuki Kobayashi until after their game against Rangers on September 3, said: “It is obviously disappointing for us in terms of Cameron Carter-Vickers, Maik Nawrocki and Stephen Welsh, probably about eight weeks.

“Stephen Welsh had an operation just the other day so he has come through that well. The other two we were hopeful would come back sooner, but we sought further scans on them and it puts them probably about eight weeks from now.”

When asked if he would look for reinforcements in that area ahead of next week’s transfer deadline, Rodgers said: “When you are losing three players for that length of time, and knowing the number of games we will have and the importance of every game, then it’s definitely something we have to look at.”

One of Rodgers’ fit centre-backs, Gustaf Lagerbielke, was the club’s oldest of six summer signings at 23 years old, and the Celtic manager admits a new arrival would “ideally” be an experienced player.

“Especially at centre-half, it’s a specialised position and for me experience always helps,” he added.

“We have a lot of young players in the squad but, naturally, to bring those players on, they need to play with players, not just of experience, but players of quality.

“You need to hopefully align both because you will see the best of those players, the guys that are young and developing and dealing with expectation, if they can play alongside the guys that are going to them pull them through and bring out that potential.”

Rodgers backed Swede Lagerbielke to handle the added responsibility he faces in the coming weeks.

“He is a very mature guy for somebody who looks so young,” Rodgers said.

“But he is up to speed in terms of games. He had only arrived in the building a couple of days and he was thrown into a tough away game.

“But I’ve got absolutely no doubt he will prove over time to be an excellent player for Celtic and he is really up for the challenge.”

Former Shamrock Rovers defender Liam Scales could now be set to play his first Celtic game in 18 months after making 39 appearances on loan at Aberdeen last season.

“I said before I really like Liam,” Rodgers said. “There has been a partnership here for the last couple of years and with Carl (Starfelt) leaving and Cam being injured for a lot of pre-season and now, it means there is change there. With the numbers down, of course Liam will play a part.”

There was better news on the injury front for Rodgers with Canada right-back Alistair Johnston training well following an ankle injury and available for Saturday’s cinch Premiership encounter with St Johnstone in Glasgow.

Striker Oh Hyeon-gyu will return to training next week after a calf problem and could be back in the squad for the trip to Ibrox.

Winger Mikey Johnston is also due to return to training next week following a back injury but Reo Hatate’s calf problem will keep him out of the derby clash and the Japanese midfielder will return to training during the international break.

Celtic have been linked with a move for 23-year-old Honduran winger Luis Palma of Aris Thessaloniki and Rodgers is confident he will add an attacking option before next Friday’s transfer deadline.

“I think we will do that before the end of the window,” Rodgers said. “The game last week, we could have been 2-0 up in the first 10 minutes but after that, especially when Kilmarnock were in front, we just didn’t quite have that little bit of finesse and those moments of magic you need to break down teams that are low in the field. So we are hoping we can do that over the course of the coming days.”