Rodgers will break bank if right player comes along

BRENDAN RODGERS insists he would have no hesitation in smashing Celtic’s record transfer fee if he felt a player was right for the team. The Parkhead club this week published accounts for the last six months of 2016 which showed a 94-per-cent surge in turnover to £61.2million. This was largely due to Rodgers guiding them to the group stage of the Champions League after a three-year exile. The manager only signed one player in January — Eboue Kouassi for £2.8m — and is expected to recruit more extensively before the qualifiers for next season’s tournament begin in July. Reflecting on an impressive set of financial figures that showed a pre-tax profit of £18.6m, Rodgers

was adamant there is no set limit to the price tag on any target’s back — and that exceeding the £6m paid to Chelsea for Chris Sutton is a possibility. ‘No, I have never been given a ceiling,’ he said. ‘Sometimes the market — depending on where you get them from — can be over-inflated. But if a player we feel is worth it, I will look to convince the board because the fans deserve the best players. ‘I’ll always strive to bring the very best players here. Then it is the decision of the club. But I am also realistic as well.’ On target to win the Treble in his first season and still unbeaten domestically, Rodgers’ success has given rise to speculation on how long it may be until a return south is on the cards. This week, ex-Celtic winger Davie Provan cast doubt on the Northern Irishman being in Glasgow for a potential tenth title in a row, but Rodgers said he will never waste time fretting about timescales. ‘I never worry about that now,’ he added. ‘Listen, I was at Liverpool. When we took over, they were eighth. In my second season, we finished runners-up. ‘The club wanted to be in the Champions League, they were desperate for it. We reached that. We were at the top of Europe because of our level of football and I signed a new deal in the June. ‘By September, people were saying I should get the sack. That’s modern football. ‘I never think of things like that any more. I will never sit and promise I will be here for ten years, five years, six months. I just do the very best I can for however long that is. ‘If that’s for the next six months or two years, let’s see what happens.’ Rodgers’ current position is in sharp contrast to Mark Warburton’s on the other side of Glasgow. The ex-Brentford boss has failed to build on an impressive first season with Rangers, to the extent Sunday’s Scottish Cup clash with Morton is being seen as a must-win. Rodgers said he spares a thought for any manager who finds themselves with their back to the wall. ‘There are good rewards to being a manager but there’s another side to it that is tough,’ he said. ‘So I have empathy with every single manager. ‘But we all have to get through it. Winning games will stop the critics but in the end they are still there.’ Celtic take on Inverness Caley Thistle in the Scottish Cup tomorrow but will be without midfielder Tom Rogic for eight weeks due to an ankle injury. ‘He looked great in training and right at the very end he twisted the same ankle again,’ said Rodgers. ‘He’ll be back for the end of the season but it’s disappointing.’ Meanwhile, Rodgers believes a new deal for Craig Gordon is imminent. ‘I’ll leave that to the club and his agent,’ he said. ‘He’s brilliant and deserves it. Hopefully that will be done very soon. I think 99.9 per cent is agreed, so that will be great for us.’