It’s now clear £4.3m star needs to leave Celtic after Brendan Rodgers’ comments

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It’s not easy getting a gig at Celtic.

The pressure of winning, winning and winning in style every week is pretty difficult for many to deal with, and this is one of the most dominant periods of the club’s history.

That was proven when Celtic were beaten at St Johnstone last time out in Perth, and despite the title being pretty much wrapped up, Rodgers still made changes for the following week clash against Kilmarnock.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	CelticCeltic	33	26	3	4	97	22	75	81
2	RangersRangers	33	20	6	7	68	35	33	66
3	HibernianHibernian	33	14	11	8	54	41	13	53
4	Dundee UtdDundee Utd	33	14	8	11	41	40	1	50

That’s the Celtic manager at his cut-throat best, and it worked, because not only did the champions-elect thrash Killie, but they also blew away St Johnstone in the Scottish Cup semi-final over the weekend.

What was interesting about Celtic’s win over St Johnstone is the bench that was named by the manager, including two players who were left out of the squad.

For Premiership matches, teams are allowed to name nine substitutes, but that drops down to eight for the Scottish Cup matches, and that left Rodgers fuming.

• READ MORE: Jim Duffy says Celtic star is ‘unfortunate’ to be on the end of Brendan Rodgers’ ruthless call

It’s time for Maik Nawrocki to leave Celtic

The two men, who didn’t make the Celtic squad for the semi-final, were youngster Johnny Kenny and £4.3 million signing, Maik Nawrocki.

It wasn’t so long ago that Nawrocki was starting against Rangers, and impressing, despite the team’s woeful display and defeat.

The Poland star would then keep his place in the XI for the following week’s win, and clean sheet, against Hearts.

Once again, the 24-year-old impressed and performed very well, but as soon as his injured teammates returned, he was out of the XI again, and this time not even in the matchday squad.

It’s pretty clear that he needs to leave, especially given how he is performing in training.

Nawrocki is impressing in Celtic training

At the end of the day, the Celtic Park faithful can only judge on what they see on the pitch, and the very little they have seen, Nawrocki has done well.

But time and time again, he is hardly used by the manager, so you take the educated guess that the centre-back isn’t doing what’s required in training.

At the end of the day, for the manager and the coaching staff, that’s the main source of their understanding of what you are and aren’t about.

But, according to Rodgers, training isn’t an issue, and he is impressing, so why does he continue to be left out, especially when the likes of Liam Scales and Auston Trusty aren’t exactly blowing everyone away with their performances?!

“I look at two players who aren’t even in the squad,” Rodgers told BBC Radio Scotland before the semi-final.

“We have a man less on the substitutes bench. We don’t quite get why you go from eight subs in a Scottish Cup game, then you have nine in the league.

“We lose out two players in Johnny Kenny and Maik Nawrocki, who are absolutely brilliant in training, working so hard, and they aren’t even on the bench.”