It seemed like only a few months ago that Tom Rogic’s trophy-laden spell at Celtic would be coming to an end.
Back in August, the Daily Mail reported that the Hoops agreed a fee of £4m to sell the midfielder to an unnamed club in Qatar.
Player had limited game time last season
Perhaps at the time the move made sense, as Rogic had been limited to only 10 first-team starts last season. However, just when supporters were resigning themselves to the player’s exit, he turned the move down.
Sky Sports Scotland’s Twitter account reported on the 7th of September that the player failed to agree terms with the unnamed club, so the deal was off.
That rejection of terms by Rogic could turn out to be a season-defining moment for Celtic. The reason for that – the form showed by Rogic since he returned to the Hoops squad.
Rogic has only played six games for Celtic this season. He has only started two. However, he has made a valuable contribution in at least three of those games.
He caused Milan all kinds of problems in the Europa League fixture between the teams. They couldn’t cope with his skills. Despite Celtic not playing well in the league game at Aberdeen, Rogic provided two assists in the 3-3 draw.
Set up goal with wonderful cross
Then, in Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final against Aberdeen, Rogic set up Celtic’s second goal with a wonderful cross which was finished by Mo Elyounoussi to confirm the 2-0 win. In two starts this season, Rogic has three assists. That’s an excellent return.
If Rogic had been sold to Qatar, who knows how the team would have fared in those recent games. The Hoops might well have struggled to create chances, like Rogic does.
Hopefully Rogic can keep fit and have a run of unbroken games in the Celtic team. If he can, Celtic’s recent revival could run and run.
In other news, Christopher Jullien seems upbeat despite his ongoing injury issues.
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