Eboue Kouassi joined Brendan Rodgers’s Celtic in January 2017.
Kouassi joined Celtic from Krasnodar in January 2017 for a transfer fee reported by BBC Sport to be worth £3 million.
The 20-year-old has had injury problems during his time at Celtic so far and has managed to play just 19 matches in all competitions for the Hoops, as stated on the Glasgow giants’ official website.
As reported by The Scottish Sun, the young midfielder has made just one start for Celtic so far this season.
Celtic manager Rodgers has explained Kouassi’s situation, and the former Liverpool boss has suggested that the signing of the youngster has seen an improvement in the game of 33-year-old former Scotland international midfielder Brown – who has been on the books of the Bhoys since the summer of 2007 when he joined from Hibernian for a transfer fee reported by The Guardian to be worth £4.4 million.
Rodgers told The Scottish Sun about Kouassi: “His situation is purely down to the level of game Scott has played.
“Eboue is a specific player. People say he hasn’t played, but maybe him coming in has given Broony the competition as he sees how good Eboue is on a daily basis.
“He’s a defensive midfielder, that’s his speciality. He’s played there since he was a kid and it’s why we brought him in.
“I’ve never thought domestically that we need to have two of those in the same team. It’s always one and the level Broony’s been at has made Eboue’s game-time minimal.”
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