It would be nice this summer if Brendan Rodgers got what he wanted in terms of bringing in the two or three quality players that could take Celtic to another level in Europe.

The Celtic manger has made absolutely no secret about his desire to keep Odsonne Edouard on a permanent deal at the end of this season. I don’t think anyone knows what the buyout clause for the 20-year-old is.

We would all accept that in the real world Celtic simply cannot shell out the £15m that even average strikers will go for down south this summer but the fact he believes the club can meet the asking fee for the player would suggest he believes it is not a huge leap to get the player in on a permanent deal.

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Last summer the club went all out to get him Patrick Roberts back for another season and this summer I suspect the same haggling will go on for Edouard.

I think you have to trust the manager here because he has proved time and again that he knows what he is doing. When the teams were announced on Sunday morning I would have been willing to guess that there was not one of the 60,000 in the crowd who would have picked Edouard over Leigh Griffiths.

With no Moussa Dembele, every Celtic supporter would have put Griffiths in against Rangers. But Brendan made the call and he was absolutely correct. The boy was excellent.

His footwork, his finishing, his strength, his pace, the way he lead the line, bullied the Rangers defence….you couldn’t fault him.

And if he carries that on next season you wouldn’t put it past him to bang in 30-odd goals. If he can play like that in the Champions League and Brendan appears to believe he has that quality then there is every chance that for your initial outlay you then make a sizeable profit on a couple of years down the line.

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He could be another Dembele with the interest and pricetag that he has now.

Defensively I think there is also a need to bring in at least one quality centre-half with an eye on Europe. It is in the Champions League where Brendan will view his next big challenge and if he can go into Dermot Desmond and Peter Lawwell this summer and outline exactly what he thinks he needs, then I think they should go out and back him all the way.

Having qualified for the Champions League group seasons over the last two seasons there is a decent pot of money at the club. This summer could be the time to dip into it and if you can get a little bit of luck with the group and have added one or two quality players then you can reap back the money that you have spent.

I do think that Edouard fits the mould. He has netted 11 goals now in 28 appearances for the club and that has been when he has effectively been the third choice striker. He has shown that he has the temperament for it with the goals he has scored in the big games.

I have said all along that I think Brendan sees his immediate future at Celtic. I don’t think he has every shied away from the fact that ultimately he will return south of the border but I honestly believe that he is settled at the club and wants to leave a legacy.

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Doing something in Europe is the next challenge for him.

To do that, though, he does need a little bit of backing and I think he has earned the right to go and ask for that now.

The planning will already have kicked into place for this summer and there will be a shortlist and longlist of players that the club would like to get in. The market is difficult – Neymar’s transfer to PSG last season really kicked the bar even higher – and for a club like Celtic there will be frustrations.

They are one of the biggest clubs in the world but we all know that they are dwarfed by the financial disparities that the television deals give rise to. They need to be clever in the window and I don’t think anyone envisages them to go and spend stupid money.

But Brendan deserves to have the boat pushed out as far as it can go. If he has seen enough of the likes of Edouard to believe he can help with the direction that the club is going in then you have to back him on it.