Maryan Shved on his way but won't be staying long as Brendan Rodgers says he 'has a million wingers'

Brendan Rodgers confirmed that dialogue was at an advanced stage for the right-sided winger but dismissed the possibility of him making an imminent impact at Celtic - "we got about a million wingers" - as the Celtic manager explained that Shved is regarded as one for the future.

Shved has been marked as a future prospect but Rodgers also conceded that he has not seen much of the player.

“The club have been in contact with Maryan’s representatives and he’s a talented young player for the future," explained Rodgers. "They’ll look to get the deal done and he’ll probably be out on loan and in during the summer.

“I haven’t seen a great deal of him. It’s something that’s come to the club through circumstance and he’s been watched and looked at but I can’t say I know a great deal about him.

“But what I have seen he’s a talent and something that will probably benefit the club in the future. We’ve got about a million wingers and don’t need another one but he’s a talent and in the summer we’ll probably lose wingers and he’ll look to come in.

“It’s an opportunity for the club to sign a young talented player but not one that will probably help us now." Meanwhile, Dedryck Boyata is expected to be back for the weekend game against Hamilton Accies although Anthony Ralston is expected to be sidelined for some time with ankle ligament damage.

“Dedryck could have played but he was a bit tight in his groin and I was thinking of one of giving one of the central defenders a breather for tonight," said Rodgers." Oliver Burke netted his first goals for the club in the 4-0 defeat of St Mirren last night that enabled Celtic to open up a three-point lead at the top of the table and with a game in hand. The 21-year--old looked far more assured than his opening performance for the Parkhead side with Rodgers confident that the on-loan Scotland internationalist will have something to offer.

“Oliver is a talent," said Rodgers. "We’re coaching him in and giving him clarity in terms of what it is he has to do but his strength and power is phenomenal.

“His touch is good - a couple of times it got away from him tonight but that happens - and it’s about giving him clarity on what his job is and that’s to create and score goals.

“He assisted at the weekend and got his goals tonight. He has many great attributes and it’s continually working with him and him finding the relationships with his team-mates.

“It was good for Oliver getting his first goals for the club, Timothy coming on and young Ewan Henderson who I believe is a big talent and it was a beautiful pass for Timothy to finish." And despite seeing some daylight opening up at the top, Rodgers was nonplussed, preferring to focus on the fact Celtic appear to be finding their fluency.

“This is our first game of the second part of the season so there’s a long way to go so my concentration is purely on ourselves and we’ve got our rhythm back quickly," said Rodgers.

“It was a very good win for us. The first game back at the weekend was a good performance and the mark of the good teams is they can go into their next game and perform better.

“I really enjoyed watching the game and how we played. It’s not easy against a team that’s very compact and tight but our pressing was very good.

“We worked hard and the players were very synchronised in getting the ball back and the quality of our game was very good with short passes and playing very quickly." Scott Bain kept the gloves last night with Rodgers suggesting that his alacrity in distributing the ball benefits how he wants Celtic to play.

“I’ve got two very good goalkeepers and I’m giving Scott a little run in the team because I know what Craig [Gordon] can do," said Rodgers.

“Scott comes in and plays one or two games so I want to give him a little run and he also really helps the speed of our game because he gets it out quickly.

“I’ve got very good goalkeepers and whichever one I play will always contribute well."