Arsenal? I’m happy here, says Brendan
Brendan Rodgers has insisted it would take something “extraordinary” to wrest him away from Celtic. The odds on Rodgers succeeding Arsene Wenger were cut as short as 5/4 off the back of comments from Celtic major shareholder Dermot Desmond that the club would not stop him speaking to the Gunners if they made an approach to do so. However, last night Rodgers’ response to the speculation was to highlight his commitment to his current employers. “I have a great relationship with Dermot.
“It’s very open, very honest and that’s how it should be,” he said.
“I’ve always said that I’m living my dream here, like they all do, and I’ll go back into the real world again.
“I am obviously privileged to be here as the manager of Celtic. “This is a huge club with big demands and I want to help the club grow and develop. In order to do that it’s about happiness. “There will be somewhere I can go and maybe earn two or three times more money than where I am now but it’s not about that.
“I’ve worked through for 10 years as a young coach and still relatively young as a manager at 45. “I am happy in my professional life and really content outside of that as well.
“I would always speak to the board. It will take something extraordinary to take me away from here.
“The club offered me four years and I was happy to sign that.
“After this season, I have three more years and I will be so happy if I can see that three years out. “Because I love working here and I love the whole process of developing players, winning games and seeing the club progress.
“With this job, I’ve a lot to do here.” Whether Arsenal come in with an offer Rodgers can’t refuse remains to be seen.
He has plenty of competition for the manager’s office at the Emirates, with former England manager Fabio Capello promoting Carlo Ancelotti’s credentials. “Carlo would be the perfect man for Arsenal,” said Capello of his fellow Italian.
“No one would be more suited to replace Arsene Wenger.
“He has great international experience, he has no problems with the English language, and he has already been in a great Premier League team. He would have no problem.
“If I was in charge of Arsenal, I would have no doubts about taking him.”