Southampton are surely wasting their time if they want Brendan Rodgers

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Premier League strugglers Southampton sacked Mauricio Pellegrino but do not expect Brendan Rodgers to leave Scottish Premiership champions Celtic.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is one of the leading candidates to take over from Mauricio Pellegrino at Premier League strugglers Southampton, as reported by the Scottish Sun.

And it does not take a genius to work out why vice-chairman Les Reed is a big fan of the Northern Irishman.

He led Swansea City to promotion to the Premier League before establishing them in the top flight, turned Liverpool into the division’s most exciting team and came within a whisker of ending their long wait for a title and, only last season, guided Celtic to an undefeated domestic treble.

Although with Celtic cruising at the top of the table again but failing to make any real progress in Europe, Rodgers appears to have hit a wall.

But the 45-year-old has big ambitions and, if he is to leave his boyhood club and a team with which he has forged such an emotional connection, it is unlikely to be for a side struggling at the bottom of the Premier League.

Rodgers has already rejected similar job offers, admitting to the Scotsman in December that he turned down West Ham and even former club Swansea.

Rodgers has a desire to go abroad and sample other footballing cultures too, while the chance to revitalise the sleeping giant that is Arsenal, as reported by The Sun, could offer an opportunity to really establish himself among the managerial elite.

Southampton are right to try for Rodgers. But it appears they may be wasting their time.