The prolonged absence of Leigh Griffiths and the summer departure of Moussa Dembele have intensified Celtic's need to sign a new striker in January, but a recent report suggests that Brendan Rodgers is looking in all the wrong places. 

The deadline day departure of Dembele really hurt the Hoops. Odsonne Edouard has been entrusted to fill the void this season at the spearhead of the attack and so far he has enjoyed mixed success.

One week Edouard plays with the swagger and untouchable dynamism of a genuine world beater; the next he is hopelessly ineffective and insistent on making fundamental errors with alarming regularity.

At 20-years-of-age that frustrating level of inconsistency is to be expected, especially when he is single-handedly responsible for providing the firepower.

However, according to a recent report from Sunday Post, Rodgers is eyeing up a January deal to sign a new centre-forward to support the Frenchman, with Jermaine Defoe and Andy Carroll both on his shortlist.

The Premier League pairing have 216 goals between them in England's top-flight - Carroll with 53 and Defoe 163 - but their prolific records in front of goal should not fool Rodgers.

Indeed, there are major reasons to suggest moves for either of the aforementioned players would be ill-advised: Carroll is hopelessly injury prone and Defoe is the opposite of a progressive long-term investment at 36-years-old.

It's incredibly difficult to find value for money in the January window and Rodgers is likely to be focusing on Defoe and Carroll due to their availability and modest asking price in a month which is characterised by obscenely inflated prices, but neither option would do much to improve the club this season.

Sure, admirers of Defoe and Carroll may suggest that they both represent reasonable temporary solutions, and perhaps they have a point.

But Carroll cannot be trusted to stay fit for any length of time and Defoe will struggle to showcase his fundamental poaching abilities at 36 and without match fitness.

Rodgers must dig a little deeper to find an appropriate long-term solution to Celtic's centre-forward problem.

Celtic fans - thoughts? Let us know below!