Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton has questioned whether Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers has full control over transfers at the club.
Rodgers admitted this week that he didn’t know much about potential new recruit Daniel Arzani following the club’s 3-1 win over Rosenborg.
The Northern Irishman’s comments have left the BT Sport pundit confused over who’s really pulling the strings at Parkhead.
“That was a surprise, I think a few of the journalists ears pricked up,” he told BT Sport’s Facebook live via the Scottish Sun. “If Brendan doesn’t know much about Arzani then we’re back to who is signing the players.
“Last year he was talking about being the manager, this year he is talking about being the coach who has to work with what he has.
“It doesn’t seem like he’s picking Arzani if he comes to Celtic. He said it was a club pick. When he talks like that I would like to know who are the ‘club’.”
OPINION
The Celtic manager’s recent comments do suggest there is a disconnect in Glasgow between Rodgers and the people buying new players. For the Northern Irishman to admit that he doesn’t know much about Arzani when the Australian is reportedly on the verge of a move to the club is somewhat startling. Whether that means transfers are being completely taken out of the manager’s hands or not is unknown at this time. You would have thought that after all the success Rodgers has had at the club that he would be given a say on who comes into the team. By all accounts Arzani is a talented player so it’s unlikely that he would be frozen out by Rodgers just because it wasn’t his idea to sign him, but if something like this develops into a pattern then it is more concerning for Hoops fans. Hopefully that doesn’t happen and the Bhoys boss is able to pursue some of his own targets this summer.