Hoops manager Neil Lennon has eased any fears over the idea of Tom Rogic leaving Celtic.
The Aussie has been the subject of reported £9million interest from Zenit St Petersburg over the last day (The Herald). The Evening Times believes that Celtic won’t accept anything less than £15m. Worryingly, however, they also state that Rogic has a preference to move to England.
As it stands, Celtic have yet to have an offer for their currently injured attacking midfielder. Rogic picked up a knock in the Scottish Cup final, and unsurprisingly, he won’t be fit for several weeks (Scottish Sun).
But speaking to the Sun after our 0-0 draw with St Gallen yesterday, Lennon confirmed he wants to keep Rogic right where he is for now.
“It’s speculation at the moment as far as I’m concerned. He is a good player and I want to keep all of my good players.”
Rogic leaving Celtic isn’t on the agenda
If Celtic are trying to make important moves to build the squad this summer, losing a player like Rogic shouldn’t be considered. Yes, he has his injury problems, and consistency is a real issue too, but he’s still a top talent.
There have been plenty of occasions where Rogic has turned a game for Celtic on his own. If the reported £9m offer from Zenit is legitimate, then it should be booted out the door. We spoke yesterday about how pleasing it was to see Celtic apparently wanting big-money for all of their key players. This shows the importance of tying players up on long-term contracts, such as Rogic did last summer.
Should we allow him to leave, it would also mean we need another top-class number 10 in his position. We have Ryan Christie at the moment, who is arguably the first choice in Rogic’s position, but outside of that we lack real class. Ewen Henderson is emerging as a talent, but we would be weakening ourselves carelessly by allowing Rogic to leave.
Lennon is taking the right stance here. Dismissing it all and confirming he wants the Wizard of Oz to stay. It was Lennon, after all, who brought him to the club back in 2013. He’ll be hoping to get a tune out of him this season when he’s match-fit.
If an offer of £15m did come in for Rogic, sure, you would expect Celtic to snap it up. It would at least allow us to splash out on an expensive replacement. But it doesn’t look like an offer in that region is coming anytime soon.
It’s a big year for Rogic, and he has some making up to do after a disappointing 2017/18 campaign.
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