Brendan Rodgers notes disappointment as he takes a hardline stance on Celtic contract talks

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Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers won’t include young talent Daniel Kelly in his pre-season preparations because he hasn’t yet committed to a new contract.

The youngster was expected to be given opportunities within the senior set-up over the coming weeks to build on a breakthrough into the first team last season.

Kelly made six substitute appearances for the Bhoys under Rodgers and even netted his first senior goal in a 7-1 rout against Dundee back in February.

His contract expires at the end of the calendar year and the club have tabled an offer for the player to commit the next few years of his career to Celtic.

However, that hasn’t been signed and Rodgers will now not progress with the player’s development during these summer months.

Brendan Rodgers on Daniel Kelly contract

The manager said [Herald Sport, 12/07 print edition]: “Daniel, as a young player, again, has been offered a really, really good con­tract by the club. A con­tract that would see him come into the first-team squad and play and per­form and develop because he has a lot of devel­op­ment to do.

“I’ve spoken with the agents and the player some months back to say, ‘listen, if we can’t tidy this up by the sum­mer, then it’s very hard to be with the team in the pre-sea­son’. It’s really as simple as that.

“I like Daniel but he has a lot of work to do and I feel that for him and the fam­ily, this is a great place for him to be able to do that. You know, you’ve got a man­ager who sees a tal­ent there, who sees the phys­ic­al­ity that he has, lots of things, and the areas he needs to brush up on. What a great club and place this is for him to be able to do that.

“f that’s not enough then that’s OK. It’s abso­lutely fine. You know, you’ll go some­where else and maybe play but, listen, you never know. We’ve got until Decem­ber/Janu­ary time but it’s just dis­ap­point­ing at this stage that it hasn’t happened because he would have had a great oppor­tun­ity this pre-sea­son.

“As I said, I know the value both in terms of the play­ers’ qual­it­ies and the con­tract offer, the offers that the club gave were very, very good for young play­ers in terms of where they’re at, with the greatest respect. Like I said to the club, if they don’t accept, then it’s OK.”

European clubs interested in Daniel Kelly

Kelly is understood to have several European clubs chasing his signature. Fabrizio Romano reported earlier this week that Bayer Leverkusen were one of the teams interested in picking him up on the cheap.

It would be disappointing to see another talented youngster leave the club for just a compensation fee but if the club have offered what they feel is a fair deal and the player doesn’t want to sign, not much can be done.

Rodgers is right to take a firm stance on the matter and not commit more time to the player if it’s not reciprocated.