Celtic boss was linked to Aston Villa.
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers was linked with a move to Aston Villa before they hired Dean Smith.
The Mail claimed Rodgers was under consideration for the Villa job, but the Championship side did not approach him.
Former Celtic star Davie Hay argues Rodgers would likely have knocked them back anyway.
He believes the Villa job would have been too risky for Rodgers and left his career in a tricky place if he failed there.
Hay told the Evening Times that Celtic present such a unique opportunity that Rodgers is unlikely to want to give it up in a hurry.
He said: “If he had been, I suspect he would have viewed it as just too big a risk.
“Villa need someone to go in and taken them straight back into the Premier League and failure to do that would have left him a little isolated.
“In terms of the bigger picture, I still think that Celtic have a higher profile than many teams of Villa’s ilk.”
It’s unclear whether Villa decided Rodgers was simply too difficult to try and lure away, or they just preferred to hire Dean Smith from Brentford, who grew up a fan of the Midlands side.
Rodgers has his hands full at the moment at Celtic anyway right now, amid the most competitive Scottish title race in years.
Emerging victorious and winning the club’s eighth in a row will only further enhance his reputation.
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