Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers can’t sell Eboue Kouassi without being haunted by relatively recent comments.
Earlier this week, Eboue Kouassi intimated to The Record that leaving Celtic was not on the agenda for him.
The 20-year-old midfielder has been linked with a move to Ligue 1 after Foot Mercato reported that a number French top-flight clubs were keen.
But for now, it looks like he might be staying at Parkhead, which is good for Brendan Rodgers; not because Kouassi is an excellent player, but because Rodgers previously made a bold statement about the Ivorian and it wouldn’t reflect well on him had he sold the former Krasnodar star.
Back in January, Rodgers told The Scottish Sun that Kouassi – a £3 million signing in 2017 – had “everything” needed to one day become Scott Brown’s successor in the Bhoys’ midfield.
He said: “Kouassi is one who is brilliant in training. He does everything, and longer-term he will certainly fulfil that role when Scott moves on.”
How can Rodgers offload Kouassi this summer, six months after saying that?
It was a very brazen claim and the Northern Irishman couldn’t let him leave Glasgow without being a touched embarrassed by the comments.
Brown, 33, has just had arguably his best-ever season in Glasgow, so it’s a massive shout by Rodgers regardless, but it’d look a hell of a lot sillier if he were to admit defeat on that experiment so soon after saying it.
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