Former Celtic star Frank McAvennie has weighed in on the imminent signing of Ukrainian winger Maryan Shved, saying there is ‘not a chance’ manager Brendan Rodgers has not had a say in the move.
The Hoops had been heavily linked with a move for the 21-year-old, who currently plays for Karpaty Lviv, and Rodgers has revealed an agreement is close but shockingly admitted he doesn’t know much about the player [Daily Record].
Ex-Celtic ace McAvennie has now dismissed suggestions that Rodgers was not consulted about the signing, admitting there had been problems at the club in the past but those had been resolved.
In a column for the Scottish Sun, he said: “I’d be surprised if this boy has come in without Brendan knowing about it. I would think Brendan has got the final say. He’s not coming in for the first-team, that’s for sure. If they’re buying someone for the future, I don’t know if Brendan would take too much to do with it. He’d have the final say but I don’t know if he’d have too much to say about it.
“He’ll be concentrating on the first-team at the moment. If they’re bringing this boy in, I think he’d be involved in loaning him back out and all that kind of stuff. But they’re not going to play him now. I can understand it, but I’d be very surprised if Brendan’s not got the final say.
“I think there was a problem last year where Dermot Desmond got Peter Lawwell and Brendan on the same page and told them to start working together again. So I’d be very surprised if there’s any deals getting done behind Brendan’s back. Not a chance. I wouldn’t imagine it.”
OPINION
It was certainly a bit of a surprise to hear Rodgers openly admit he did not know much about Shved. That admission obviously led to concerns that this was a signing being forced upon the Hoops manager by club bosses, which is the issue that McAvennie has attempted to address here. It does indeed seem strange for Rodgers to know nothing about a Celtic signing, but that is more likely related to the player himself rather than knowledge of the club actually signing him. It would be unprecedented for a signing to be forced upon Rodgers, and as McAvennie says it is unlikely for that to have happened. However, despite the fact that Shved is likely to join the youth set-up at Celtic Park before graduating to the first-team, it still seems odd for Rodgers to not know much about him. There is definitely some confusion about what is going on behind the scenes at Celtic at the moment, and hopefully that is all cleared up very soon and focus returns to their title challenge.