A perfect candidate? Brendan Rodgers wanted Everton to appoint Neil Lennon in 2013

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Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has admitted that he wanted to see Neil Lennon become Everton manager.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has told the club’s official website that he has huge respect for Hibernian manager Neil Lennon – and wanted him to get the Everton job in 2013.

The Bhoys took on Lennon’s Hibs side on Saturday afternoon, and almost lost their unbeaten domestic record under Rodgers, as two John McGinn goals cancelled out Callum McGregor’s opener.

However, McGregor did then equalise late in the day for Celtic, handing the Bhoys a point at Celtic Park, but allowing Aberdeen to move level on points with them at the top of the table.

Ahead of the game, Rodgers spoke highly of Hibs manager Neil Lennon, who enjoyed a strong spell in charge of Celtic before leaving in the summer of 2014.

Lennon, 46, guided Hibernian back to the top flight with promotion last season, and having won three league titles with Celtic, he remains a highly-regarded manager in Scotland, despite a poor spell with Bolton Wanderers.

Rodgers told Celtic’s official website that he thinks Lennon is a ‘brilliant’ manager, and wanted him to get the Everton job when David Moyes left for Manchester United in 2013, only for the Toffees to go with Roberto Martinez, with Rodgers feeling that Lennon was the perfect candidate.

“Neil is brilliant manager and I have a lot of time and respect for him. He was a fantastic player and had a great playing career here at Celtic. It’s not an easy job to do but to then move from playing to becoming the manager at Celtic was absolutely magnificent.”

“I remember I was at Liverpool and at the time Everton were looking for a manager and I thought a perfect candidate would’ve been Neil Lennon. When you manage Celtic, you can manage any club. That was my feeling, so without being disrespectful, when he went to Bolton I was surprised because he’s definitely a Premier League manager,” he added.

Rodgers’ believe that Lennon is a Premier League-calibre manager isn’t well supported by his stats at Bolton, where he claimed just 18 wins in 79 games in charge – and whilst he did impress with Celtic, Everton probably made the right decision to go with Martinez, even if that didn’t end well.

Everton may yet be in the market for a new manager soon if Ronald Koeman doesn’t improve results, but the chances of Lennon being in the running are slim at best, even if Rodgers believes he can do the job.