Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has admitted that he is wary of losing players at the last minute as the English transfer window closes earlier than the Scottish window.

Premier League clubs have until August 9 to bring players in and Rodgers, who has seen Kieran Tierney linked with both Everton and Manchester United this term, has accepted that there is always the threat of a big money offer landing towards the end of the window and Moussa Dembele has also never been short of suitors.

However, with the window closing earlier south of the border there could also be greater scope for Celtic to do business with Rodgers believing that this summer will be somewhat experimental as the club look to assess any changes in the market.

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Celtic have so far signed Odsonne Edouard with the Frenchman firmly settled into the squad while there has also been a permanent deal handed to goalkeeper Scott Bain. Rodgers would ideally like to supplement that before the window closes and is interested to see how the new format plays out.

“That’s always the threat [in terms of late bids],” said Rodgers. “But you always have to be aware of it.”

“It will probably affect us in some capacity.

“Until we actually experience it for the first time we won’t really know.

“It’ll just quicken up the selling or loaning of players because clubs only have until the first week in August now.

“But we’ll probably know better after we experience it.

“The Premier League clubs will have to make earlier decisions on players. But I can see the concept and it is right.

“When your season starts it’s always difficult when you have guys in the changing room thinking about staying or going.

“Especially when it gets into the last week, it becomes a little disruptive.”

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Meanwhile, Rodgers has intimated that he would welcome the addition of VAR to the Scottish game. In realistic terms the likelihood is that costs would make its use prohibitive in Scotland, although the Celtic manager would like to see the technology added to the sidelines for the UEFA Champions League games.

With Celtic in the midst of a four-pronged assault to make it into the group stages of the lucrative tournament for the third success time under Rodgers, the small margins that can settle games can be crucial given the massive finances that are at stake.

There was a degree of controversy as the system was pioneered at this summer’s FIFA World Cup in Russia – many felt that Argentinian referee Nestor Pitana – who gave France a penalty in the final after watching a VAR replay for a handball against Croatian winger Ivan Perisic – called it wrong even after viewing the incident several times.

It highlights the vagaries of interpretation but, for Rodgers on the whole, the system was beneficial to eradicating mistakes that are inevitably made.

In any case, the incident made for an interesting moment in Celtic’s dressing room. Olivier Ntcham turned up for training in the immediate aftermath of the final sporting his France top – something that was always guaranteed to incite a reaction from Croatian defender Jozo Simunovic.

“If you’re French then yes [it was a penalty],” smiled Rodgers. “The rest of the world felt sorry for Croatia . . . but our French boys are adamant it was a penalty.”

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And while the use of VAR did not entirely stop the bickering over contentious decisions as the final underlined, when it comes to getting it right in the high-profile games where much is at stake, Rodgers is all for it.

“With the money involved in the Champions League, that’s a great point,” said Rodgers.

“I just think it’s shown that it can work and work well.

“But of course there’s a huge investment needed for it. It would be interesting, wouldn’t it, if it was used for televised games.”

When tried out in England last year the overall effect seemed to be a bit hit and miss. However, with greater exposure Rodgers believes that it could be seamlessly woven into the game.

“I thought VAR worked very very well at the World Cup,” continued the Celtic manager.

“We were probably all a little bit sceptical of it at the beginning, after seeing it in England earlier in the season.

“There was one Liverpool game where there was a delay for seven minutes. People were waiting when it was in the middle of the winter which wasn’t ideal.

“But in Russia is was very slick in the main and a lot of the decisions were correct and it didn’t really alter the flow of the game. So I think it worked very well.”