Former Celtic hero, Joe Ledley, has shared why he is surprised that James Forrest is not being picked more by Brendan Rodgers.
Ledley retired from football over a year ago but did play alongside Forrest during his trophy-laden spell at the club and knows exactly what qualities the 32-year-old winger has.
Ledley said [Scottish Sun], “James hasn’t been playing, which is a surprise to me.
“But I know the person he is and what Celtic means to him. He can still be playing a vital role behind the scenes helping the new players.
“A strong changing room goes a long way in football. It’s the main key to success.
“There’s great pressure on you playing for Celtic. You have to win every game, no matter the opposition.
“But I loved it there, it’s a wonderful club.”
James Forrest at Celtic
With all due respect to Ledley and to Forrest, the Celtic winger’s best days are way behind him. Long gone are the games where Forrest could whizz past defenders with his speed.
And it’s been some time since Forrest has been utilised in the Celtic team to any kind of degree that has made a material impact.
The fact that Forrest was barely used when we had Daizen Maeda, Marco Tilio and Hyunjun Yang at the Asia Cup was quite telling.
What is also quite telling, and damning of our recruitment system, is that former players are still tipping Forrest to get game time at this present time.
Celtic need to move on from Forrest. If he’s great at coaching the youngsters, then brilliant but, like Mikey Johnston, we need to move on from players who are not good enough to play for us and be demanding more from a recruitment department that has failed in the past four transfer windows.
In other news, ‘It’s clear’… Alan Brazil shares what he’s been told about the problems at Celtic
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