Most newspapers are reporting this morning that Celtic are close to bringing Patrick Roberts back to Glasgow before he even has a chance to unpack his cases in Manchester.

 Whilst hardly the most difficult transfer story to work out, its at least encouraging to have it confirmed ( sort of ) that the popular winger is being targeted to continue his love affair with the club, and it does show a level of ambition that we’ve been looking for for a number of years.

However, it is the popular press, and they aren’t any more accurate just because its a feelgood story.

There’s little doubt that if the player wanted to stay, Celtic would attempt to strike a deal, so hopefully that is the case, and we don;t need to worry about bringing in a replacement who may or may not become “Celtic minded “.

Moussa Dembele has more or less committed himself to another year at Celtic, quietly dismissing talks of a move to Milan, or anywhere else, come to think of it. Due to a lack of recent quotes, the player is on holiday after all, the Mail reminded us of what he said last month…

‘I’ve got a four-year contract here so it’s just speculation.

‘I haven’t said I’m going to leave the club. You want to play Champions League football and I’ve had the chance to do it this season. I think Celtic is the best place for me.’  

At the time , Brendan Rodgers added;
Am I confident my key players will be here for the qualifiers? Yes,’

Now, that could be interpreted as an admission that should Celtic fail to qualify for the UCL group stages, Dembele will be sold on to “balance the books “

Admittedly, that has happened before, and the media will no doubt remind us that not only could it happen again, but it will.

For now, however, it looks like we will be taking the invincibles into the qualifiers, and as they are a much stronger unit than the one we started with last season, we can be reasonably optimistic that they will achieve their objective.

Rodgers spoke of additions, and there will be movement, but he’s unlikely to bring in anyone and throw them into the mix for qualification.

He’ll stick with what he knows, and then look to improve.

Thats not to say there won’t be early business done, but it’s unlikely to be business that will mean an unfamiliar line up in the opening games.

Oh, and remember the spin we mentioned last week about the Johnny Hayes “deal ” ?

Report: Celtic may face last-gasp agony with Jonny Hayes deal hijacked, final decision coming today

It’s Manchester City midfielder Fabian Delph. This is his reaction when he found out that when he said he wanted a move away this summer the only responses were from West Brom, Burnley and Newcastle.

Then he heard about Celtic being interested…

This surprise may be because he’s not made himself popular down south, leaving Aston Villa shortly after declaring his undying love for the club as soon as Manchester City waved their wad at him. He probably doesn;t think anyone wants him any more, well, anyone of note that is.

But Rodgers has shown he isn’t interested in what a player has done before, its what he can do now….

Another on the radar is Sardar Azmoun, at least according to the Sun hack who has been playing that football manager game kids go on about.

Persianfootball.com – PODGORICA, Two goals by Iranian gem Sardar Azmoun gave Iran a 2-1 away victory in an entertaining friendly match against Montenegro on Sunday.

Iran coach Carlos Queiroz decided to rest usual starters Milad Mohammadi, Mehdi Taremi and Alireza Jahanbakhsh and instead lined up debutant Saeid Aghaei, Karim Ansarifard and Mehdi Torabi. 

Will the guy be able to handle a move to Celtic, with the champions League and high pressure domestic matches ?

I’ve a feeling that won’t be a problem for him, in fact, it all might seem rather tame…

Iran v Iraq-decided on penalties!!!

And the UCL ?

Buy him before we sell Dembele.

In fact, buy him before we buy anyone else.

Several Celtic players are on international duty this coming week, and most of them could be in action for Scotland against England. Not quite Iran Iraq, but still possibly competitive.

Scott Brown will lead the Scots into the fray, but is he going to hold back a wee bit, with some very importnat club games just a few weeks away.

“I think we all know how crucial the qualifiers are

We know what we have to do this summer and although it means a short break, we know what is at stake for the club.

“We are back and straight into the qualifiers so we all have our programmes to stick to and know what we have to do in order that we go back ready to hit the ground running.

“I am really looking forward to the game against England at Hampden because it is such a massive fixture. Historically it has always been a huge fixture and it is a chance for us to go and get something from the game.

“But it is fair to say that making sure we are back in tip-top condition for the qualifiers is so important.” 

“We know that the club should always be represented at that level and there is an onus on us to make sure that we get into the group stages.

“For a lot of the boys here, last year was the first time they had played in the competition at that stage. Hopefully if we can get through the qualifiers then we can show what we have taken as a group from that experience and use it to kick on a wee bit.

“The manager wants us to keep improving and keep getting better and that is what we are looking to do.”

Especially Brown. When you look at this picture, you realise that he is crucial to any chance we have of competing at the top level again…

And thats despite exiting after the group stage…

Celtic must continue to strengthen, not only for the European campaign, but the domestic scene…

Look .stop laughing…

It might be true…

Alright, you win, lets remain sceptical.

But what about all these players jetting in to join the revolution ?

Its fathers day this week, and I have to say I’m rather pleased that my three have chipped in and got me one of those new apple watches…

And they wonder why I’m swapping them one at a time for Border Collies.

Yesterday we continued with our blatantly sexist pictures…

Now, the last of these, which has proved thus far to be an interesting experiment…