RODGERS HAS A ‘MORAL’ DUTY TO LET STARS LEAVE

BRENDAN RODGERS has insisted that Celtic are under no financial pressure to sell players but concedes they have a ‘moral’ obligation to let their very best pursue life-changing riches in the English Premier League. The Treble-chasing Scottish Premiership champions are braced for fresh interest in a number of star players following a spectacular debut season for former Liverpool boss Rodgers. Moussa Dembele is the subject of interest from some of England’s wealthiest clubs, with a £20million price tag no disincentive to teams seeking a proven goalscorer. And home-grown full-back Kieran Tierney is on the radar of teams with money to burn. Rodgers, who insists that he has absolute control over recruiting for the first team at Celtic Park, rejected the suggestion that the Hoops are just a selling club. ‘No, not at all,’ he said. ‘What you have here is that there is a natural parting of the ways. ‘Because there is a moral issue around it. If you are on ten or 12 grand a week but someone comes in offering you £80,000 a week, the reality is that Celtic can’t afford that. ‘So, morally, how long can you keep a guy on ten grand when he can earn 80 or a hundred grand? It is very, very difficult. ‘What then happens is the player wants to leave, the club then has to get the best price — and then they have to reinvest it.’ In a sit-down with former Celtic star-turned-pundit Chris Sutton, the ex-Hoops striker suggested that chief executive Peter Lawwell had been given too much influence over signings when Ronny Deila was manager — and wondered if that might have changed. Rodgers told BT Sport: ‘I don’t know how it was before. But, for now, it has to be the boss. ‘Unless the player coming in is someone the manager wants, it is going to be very difficult. ‘The beauty of it here is that it’s very simple. Simplicity works best. ‘You’ve got Peter who does a great job overseeing commercially and on the football side, a very influential figure and someone I’ve got great respect for as a person — and as a professional. ‘He then lets me get on with this side. I then look to help him. They allow me to get on with managing.’ Revealing that the ground rules had been set in his very first meeting with Lawwell and majority shareholder Dermot Desmond, the former Liverpool boss said: ‘When I got the call from Peter, we met in London at Dermot’s house and had a very open, very frank conversation about where the club was at. ‘They made it very, very clear that, if I was to come, they would give me the freedom to be the architect of the club. I was happy to accept that responsibility. ‘I had backing for my signings — and I knew that the squad needed pace and power. ‘Leigh Griffiths had scored 40 goals and the next highest was Tom Rogic with ten. ‘So, for how I ask the team to play, to work to the vision, you need more goalscorers and goals from different areas. ‘So Moussa coming in, I felt he could score goals with his pace and power. I knew Scott Sinclair would score goals with his pace, trickery and skill. ‘Then we needed experience. Kolo Toure was huge. He came in at 35, empowered the team and helped Scott Brown in that leadership role.’