OPINION
Brendan Rodgers faces a conundrum at Celtic regarding the club’s goalkeepers as he has two chomping at the bit to play.
Craig Gordon and Scott Bain could both make a case for why they should be the first-choice goalkeeper at the club, but there’s no clear front-runner for the jersey.
Gordon, 35, has been on the sidelines with a knee injury in recent months, but Evening Times previously reported that he was ahead of schedule and would be back before the end of the season.
The 35-year-old goalkeeper has been the clear first-choice at the Hoops for a while now, and has been impressive this season by keeping 22 clean sheets in 40 appearances.
It looked like it would be a massive blow for the Hoops in January when Gordon suffered his injury against Hibernian, but the signing of Bain made you forget he was missing.
Bain, 26, joined the Hoops in January on loan from Dundee until the end of the season, and has been impressive in the two appearances he has made in Gordon’s absence.
The 26-year-old was outstanding against Rangers and should not be in the danger of being dropped.
However the truth is, that he could be axed by Rodgers with Gordon returning, as the experienced goalkeeper didn’t put a foot wrong before getting injured.
Whomever Rodgers opts to rely on, the other one is going to feel snubbed.
This will be particularly an issue with Bain as Rodgers wants him to join the club on permanent basis when his Dundee contract expires in the summer.
The Hoops boss stated that the club will “sit down” for talks with Bain, as quoted by the Scottish Sun, about keeping him at the club, but the goalkeeper won’t want to join if he is dropped when in impressive form.
The 26-year-old knows that he has plenty of clubs interested in him, with The Sun previously reporting that Stoke City,Wolves, Hearts and Hibernian are all keen to recruit him.
Therefore Rodgers must tread carefully when making a decision regarding his goalkeepers, as the stakes are high due to the fact that it could see the club miss out on Bain’s signature.