Neil Lennon has admitted that he wants to offer Mikael Lustig a new contract if he remains the manager.
Lustig’s contract situation is now widely known. His time at Parkhead is currently up this summer, with no new contract having yet been revealed by the Swedish international or the eight-in-a-row champions.
Despite that, Lennon has still thrown him in on a weekly basis during his time in charge as interim boss. Lustig has now started Celtic’s last seven matches. He’s proved to be a more useful option to Jeremy Toljan, who’s on loan from Borussia Dortmund until the end of the season.
And after watching Lustig open the scoring at Pittodrie on Sunday, Lennon was full of praise for the full-back. Speaking in the Sun, the interim boss admitted he wants to keep the veteran at the club.
“I know what Mika can do. I know the personality of the player, he is very important in the dressing room. First and foremost, he’s a quality player. He is right up there in terms of great players at the club.
“He is still contributing immensely to what we want to do here. He’s a brilliant player and a brilliant boy. I would like to keep him.
“Mika will know more about his role as he gets older but as a player he is very important to what has been done here over the last eight years.”
Confirmation
This is, quite simply, confirmation of Lustig’s future if Lennon gets the job. If the manager was to want Lustig to stay at the club, it’s surely likely that the Swede wouldn’t be going anywhere.
He has been linked with a move to AIK in the summer. The Swedish side have even opened up on those rumours too, and there’s clearly an interest there. So Lustig certainly has an option to move elsewhere if he so chooses.
Lennon also touching on his role as he gets older is also intriguing. Hopefully, he’s hinting at Lustig not being first-choice if he does remain at the club next season. We need a top quality right-back, or at the very least, a substantial improvement on both Lustig and Toljan.
Should Celtic wish to keep Lustig as back-up, then that’s hardly a disaster. He is still a fairly reliable performer, but he’s lost any pace he once had, and is too easily caught out of position at times because of it.
But nobody can deny his success at Parkhead. He’s been part of every single title, and a key man in the treble treble run too. He’s been a hero at this club, and could still have a part to play in the run for nine-in-a-row.
But that can’t be as first-choice.
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