The Queens Park Rangers defender has been linked with a shock move to Celtic Park.
“I would hope Celtic are a [Champions League] last 16 team in two or three years’ time, absolutely. And consistently. I think that was the aim for me coming here, it was to really build the club.”
Brendan Rodgers may be the master of soundbites but you got the feeling that he really believed this one, as reported by the Daily Record.
The Northern Irishman has hardly played down his desire to re-establish Celtic at the top of the European game and, although they crashed out, bottom place, in their Champions League group, shoots of progress were evident in all but two of their six fixtures.
However, while keeping hold of Celtic’s prized assets, Moussa Dembele and Kieran Tierney to name but two, is likely to be tested in each and every transfer window from now until eternity, arguably the more difficult task facing Rodgers is to attract players with European calibre to Parkhead.
Juventus’s 29-time Brazil international Hernanes, linked to Celtic by Calciomercato in the summer, fits the bill. Nedum Onuoha? Not so much?
According to the Daily Mail, the former Manchester City defender, currently captain of QPR, has a clause in his contract allowing him to leave on a free transfer, with Celtic among the club’s reportedly expressing an interest.
With retirement creeping up on Kolo Toure and the futures of Dedryck Boyata and Efe Ambrose far from certain, Rodgers certainly needs defensive reinforcements. B
ut a 30-year-old who never convinced in the Premier League and who has not played in a European game since the 2008/09 UEFA Cup is hardly the man to improve Celtic’s squad.
He may have been one of QPR’s most consistent performers this season, but marking Sam Gallagher and Danny Ward is a world away from taking on Lionel Messi at the Camp Nou or Sergio Aguero at the Etihad Stadium.
Rodgers, and Celtic, should aim higher.
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