Brendan Rodgers led his Celtic side to Rotterdam during the week, but the Bhoys eventually faltered to a disappointing 2-0 loss. Things did not go to plan at all for the Hoops, but results elsewhere in the Champions League helped Brendan Rodgers gain some inspiration.
In Group D, Austrian side RB Salzburg travelled away to Portuguese giants Benfica. Sazlaburg came away with a vastly impressive 2-0 victory, and Rodgers believes their recruitment strategy is one the Celts should be aspiring towards.
Typically, they will look to promote from within and/or buy young talent with a high ceiling and sell them on for major profit. He said (Glasgow Times): “I think Red Bull Salzburg went to Benfica and won 2-0 with a lot of young players – top young players. So that’s what we can aspire to, making improvements and maximising the players that we have and just getting better. That will be the difference IF the model is to bring them in young.”
It is difficult to compare Celtic and Salzburg as the latter is part of a major footballing group of numerous clubs that openly share and exchange information on players, recruitment, scouting, and transfers. The Hoops do not have this advantage, but will still look to move towards that model over time.
They are arguably there already with sales of several younger players for a significant profit including Jota, Dembele, van Dijk, and Ajer. The scale Salzburg is doing it on, though, is much larger, and the Hoops have a long way to go before they are selling players who are proven in the Champions League to teams like Liverpool and Bayern Munich.
Impossible as long as we keep losing our own youth players because they see no progression to 1st team, our club still needs a major overhaul starting from the top down.