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  • 22/07/2025
Transcript
00:00Brendan Rodgers' contract situation, he's only got 12 months left on his current deal.
00:07We know he's held talks with Celtics hierarchy, Dermot Desmond, during the summer.
00:16Difficult, isn't it, at this moment in time, to see Brendan Rodgers extending that beyond
00:22next summer at this moment in time, Ben?
00:25I think it'll hinge a lot, potentially anyway, on what does happen this summer.
00:30I think Brendan Rodgers didn't come back for me anyway to go and win the Premiership again.
00:35Now there maybe will be that lingering thing of he hasn't done the treble again since he
00:39came back, obviously a disappointing defeat to Kilmarnock in the early stages of the League
00:44Cup first season and then the Scottish Cup final panning out the way it did against Aberdeen.
00:49So there maybe will be that we added motivation to go and try and do that again.
00:54But I think the big reason he came back to Celtic was to see could he bring this club forward
00:59in the Champions League.
01:01And ultimately, as much as it buys into the player trading model, you know, is Shin Yamada
01:07going to be the missing Kyogo link and bring them on in the Champions League?
01:11He might be, but he's very much a project signing.
01:14He's not somebody you can hang your hat on and say, right, that is a guy who's going to...
01:18Arnie Engels, I think, was probably...
01:20For me, that signing seemed to indicate they spent £10-£11 million on a player who's
01:25playing regularly in the Bundesliga to try and move them on.
01:27They were almost moving into the next stage and they're player trading from buying players
01:32at £5-£6 million and selling them on for X amount to buying players at maybe £11-£12-£13
01:37million.
01:38Seems like this summer, at least to this point, they've kind of rode back on that a little
01:41bit and I think for Brendan Rodgers to feel like he still can take this project forward,
01:48I feel like more of the type of signings of...
01:51You're maybe speculating a bit higher, but I feel like you need to make more of them
01:54to show him that you mean proper business.
01:57I think if he goes through a summer where, you know, if they don't get a striker on Osmond
02:02and Shin Yamada is all that comes in an attack, then I think that'll paint a picture and you
02:08will begin to question, the longer it drags on as well, I think the more the questions
02:13get louder because the uncertainty grows.
02:15So, I think until he does sign it, or I suppose he doesn't next May, it's always going to
02:20be something people talk about, how are Celtic building for the future under Brendan Rodgers?
02:24Because he's not signed a contract at the minute, he can't really say yes with any level
02:28of certainty.
02:28So, I'll bet it'll be an underlying subplot in this full season the longer it goes that
02:37he doesn't see in his contract extension.

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