Would James Forrest have left Celtic if Brendan Rodgers hadn’t took over?

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James Forrest only had a few months left on his Celtic contract when Rodgers was appointed in the summer of 2016.

In the eyes of Brendan Rodgers, Celtic might as well have put search posters up for James Forrest before he brought the revolution to Parkhead in the summer of 2016.

Rodgers knew that the homegrown winger had immense potential. But with his fitness and form far from consistent, Forrest’s performance level had dropped alarmingly and his days at Celtic looked numbered.

His contract at Celtic was due to expire in December 2016 – just a few months after Rodgers arrived. But, one year on, Forrest’s long-term future at Parkhead is secure and he is in the form of his life with a joint-career best nine goals to his name already.

In fact, you could go as far as to claim that no one has benefited more from Rodgers’ arrival at Celtic than Forrest.

“We had a nice little joke, me him and (Scott) Browny,” Rodgers told the Daily Record, reminiscing about his first meeting with Forrest.

“I had met Browny previous to my first day of training, but, when I was walking up the stairs, he was with James. I shook Browny’s hand and then shook James’ hand and said: It’s nice to meet you.

“I then said to Browny: Listen, will you do me a favour? If you see James Forrest, can you tell him that the manager absolutely loves him and that he wants to have a little chat with him because he’s obviously been on loan for a couple of years but I want him back to play.

“That gave him a little chuckle and he was up and running. We built up a rapport from day one and that is what football is about.”

From the first moment manager and player laid eyes on each other, Forrest’s fortunes appeared to have been transformed. From looking likely to depart last year, the 26-year-old became only the second Celtic player in history to score in three Hampden Park finals in the 2-0 League Cup win against Motherwell.

And it may be no exaggeration to say that, unless Celtic had not lured Rodgers to Celtic in 2016, Forrest would be plying his trade elsewhere right now.