Has Celtic’s Mikael Lustig just been sent clear message by Brendan Rodgers?
It’s been a sluggish, error-laden first few months of 2018 for poor Celtic right-back Mikael Lustig.
The Swedish defender has been nothing short of abysmal for much of the calendar year so far and Celtic fans on Twitter have repeatedly called for Brendan Rodgers to drop him, and then sell him in the summer.
Whether it’s conceding a penalty, receiving a very clumsy red card, or not doing his job in the build-up to a goal for the opposition, Lustig has been guilty of all of the above as of late and few would be surprised if the Northern Irishman either wielded the axe or signed someone better to replace him in the first XI this summer.
Then again, Rodgers might have just given him a big chance to save his Celtic career instead.
Lustig surely can’t save his Celtic career without playing regularly, but it looks like he probably will remain as Rodgers’s first-choice right-back option after Anthony Ralston’s short-term loan to Dundee was sanctioned.
Ralston, who has recently returned from a long-term injury, was one of the candidates – along with Cristian Gamboa – to displace Lustig, but his temporary move away has strengthened the likelyhood of Lustig getting enough chances to convince Rodgers that he deserves to stay at Parkhead.
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