Brendan Rodgers has said that he may need to delve into the transfer market to strengthen his defence after centre-half Dedryck Boyata was ruled out for up to three months with a medial ligament injury.

The Celtic manager has yet to make up his mind over whether or not to add another centre-half to his ranks, with Erik Sviatchenko and young Kristoffer Ajer on standby to fill the void left by the Belgian defender.

But with fitness concerns over Ajer during the summer too, he admits that he may need to add some defensive cover to his squad to make sure he isn’t left short at the back.

Rodgers, who hopes to make progress on another unrelated signing over the weekend, said: “I’ll sit down and have a look with the staff to see where we are at. We have Jozo (Simunovic), who has been on a real good run of fitness but who is one we have always been managing.

“Erik has normally been fit, which has been fine. Young Kris Ajer has come back from a loan period and I like to develop from within. But he has hardly trained in pre-season because he has been injured as well.

“We want to ensure we have the cover there. It is a case of slowing the thinking, having a look at it and seeing if we need to bring one in.

"I'm open-minded. My job is to do the best for Celtic, which is to win games. I need to try to find a way to do that. These are big pressure games that come in at this stage of the season.

"But you look at this period last year. You had young Saidy Janko and Eoghan O'Connell playing. Two inexperienced boys. But we managed to find a way through and they did a job for us at that time.

"It will all be down to fitness in the moment. I am open. I like to have multi-functional players who can operate in different positions.

"But if the need is to look at someone, or bring them in, then I will look at that.

“We’ll just assess it, we’ll look at it. We have some very good centre-halves at the club, we just need to have a wee look at that to see if we need anyone else to come in.”

Rodgers was desperately disappointed for Boyata, who fought his way back from injury and from the fringes of the Celtic squad to push his way to the forefront of his manager’s thoughts midway through last season through sheer determination and hard graft.

He will need to summon all of those reserves once more, but Rodgers is more than confident that the 26-year-old can rise to the task again.

“It’s obviously disappointing news for us because for the second part of last season he was absolutely outstanding,” he said.

“It’s a big year for Dedryck with the World Cup but more importantly for ourselves as well. If there is a ‘good’ time to have an injury like this it is at this moment.

“I know what he’s like in terms of his mental focus. He will go away and recover well and work tirelessly on getting himself fit again and he will be back hopefully for us around September time.

“It’s a real shame for him because I was really impressed by Dedryck. I knew him before when he was a Manchester City player, he didn’t play so much there, but he clearly had all the tools.

“He came to Celtic, there is always a settling in period, but he was super professional when he wasn’t in the team. He worked very hard, we spoke a lot, he worked hard on the training field and then when he got his chance he hasn’t looked back.

“I’m bitterly disappointed for him and obviously for the team because he’s got that attribute that I really like in the centre of our defence, which is pace.

“The way we play, with the team pressing up the pitch, you need to have someone in the central area who can get the team up the field. But we just have to let him get back in his own time. I

" know he will work very hard that is his mentality, and we will continue to work and we have other players who can come in and do a very good job.

“He is a strong boy. He came back from injuries last year and at least he goes away this time knowing he has made a great impact on the team. He was a pivotal player for us in the second half of last season and I believe he will come back stronger from this.”

What made the news even harder to take for Rodgers, and particularly for Boyata, was that the defender missed all of Celtic's European action last season as he worked his way back into the side.

Of course, everyone connected with Celtic hopes that won’t be the case this season with the Hoops making the group stages of the Champions League again.

And Rodgers consoled his player with the notion that he can still taste not only the highest level of the European game with his club this term, but also make his mark on the World Cup with Belgium.

"It would be great if Dedryck can come back and get into that Belgium World Cup squad,” Rodgers said. “He has all the tools to be there.

"If you look at the competition, it's strong with Jan Vertonghen, Vincent Kompany and Toby Alderweireld.

"They have strong defensive players but there is no doubt that Dedryck will be in Roberto (Martinez)'s thoughts.

"They have been playing a back three and he can do that comfortably - central or on the sides.

"He has pace and he can pass the ball. More importantly, he can also defend. When Belgium play, the defenders are left on a one v one situation. Dedryck can handle that because he is quick.

“Celtic is the priority but I want the guy to do well in an international sense too.

"Hopefully this is just a setback and he can recover the way he did last season.”