Paul Wade – who won 84 caps for Australia – has backed Celtic star Tom Rogic to captain his country at some stage in the future.
Tom Rogic playing for Australia
Former Australia midfielder Paul Wade has suggested that Celtic ace Tom Rogic will undoubtedly become the captain of his country one day, the Evening Times reports.
The 24-year-old has been a stalwart of the Socceroos side over the last few years, and that will come as no surprise to those who have watched the Scottish Premiership in recent seasons with Rogic often looking – as much of his Celtic teammates do – to be a class apart from most of the division.
Rogic has been fantastic for Celtic
And Wade – who won 84 caps for his country in an international career that spanned a decade – has suggested that it is only experience that is denying Rogic being a contender for the national team’s armband currently.
“Absolutely no doubt. He’ll have to put in a few more years yet because it’s all right being a cool cat but you’ve got to have the experience,” he said, as reported by the Evening Times, when asked if Rogic is a future captain.
“You’ve got to know pressure situations and not only deal with them yourself, but have an influence on the team, and only experience can provide that. But that will come with time.”
It would surely be fair to suggest that Rogic could well have the experience that Wade has spoken about in the very near future given what the Hoops have achieved this season, going through the entire domestic season unbeaten and winning every domestic trophy.
It was, of course, Rogic who put the icing on the cake with the winning goal in the Scottish Cup final that completed the treble, and that goal arguably demonstrated why Wade is so confident about his future.
He showed the composure to find the back of the net at the end of the pitch at Hampden Park where little over 12 months beforehand it was his penalty that saw the Bhoys knocked out of the Scottish Cup at the semi-final stage by Rangers, and the goal was arguably all the more impressive given that the pressure was heightened with the game reaching stoppage-time.
And with the Hoops back in the Champions League qualifiers again next season, it appears that he will get many more chances to play on the bigger stages in the near future.
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