After a quick look through the archives it’s very obvious why Brendan Rodgers is looking to bring Scott Sinclair to Celtic.
Between 2010 and 2012 the two men were instrumental in the rise of Swansea City into the force that they are today.
Despite Sinclair’s career failing to kick on from his move to Manchester City.. it seems that the faith of his former Swansea boss is unwavering.
Since Swansea banked a £6m cheque from Manchester City the former goalscoring winger has started just 30 league games with only three goals to celebrate.
From the moment that he left Swansea Sinclair’s career has been on a downward spiral with Paolo Mancini going public with his doubts within a year of going to Manchester Cityy.
Now Rodgers seems determined to get to work with the player. This could be the last chance saloon for Sinclair working with his Swansea mentor looks too good an opportunity to miss..
CLICK HERE to begin the gallery of five quotes that sum up Sinclair’s career to date.
NO DOUBT HE IS PREMIER LEAGUE QUALITY
After a scoring burst of nine goals in 10 matches to kick off his Swansea career Premier League sides were starting to take a keen interest in Sinclair.
In October 2010 Rodgers admitted: “There is no doubt he is Premier League quality but I’ve no concerns as he loves it at Swansea.
“He has wonderful pace, he is a great boy and has mixed in well with the squad and his goal – the movement, touch and finish – was what we’ve seen from him all season.
“He is a player that can make a difference.
“He know he needs to play. And when him and I spoke in the summer about coming here, I said that was what he needs to do for the next two years to establish himself as a footballer.”
PREMIERSHIP BREAKTHROUGH
After gaining promotion in 2011 it took Sinclair until December to score from open play but his manager never doubted his ability at the highest level.
In December 2011 after his first Premier League goal from open play Rodgers said: “You’ll see the change in him now. His all-round game was great, he was a threat for us and he puts defenders on the back foot.
“I thought he combined much better than in some of his other games instead of being
a soloist all the time. He was unfortunate a couple of times.”
TIME UP AT CITY
Within a year of his ‘dream’ move to Manchester City the signs were ominous for Sinclair’s career.
In April 2013 Paolo Mancini said: “This situation with Sinclair is difficult because I didn’t give him a lot of chances to play. He is very unlucky.
“It is my fault, not his fault. A young player like Scott who is a good player deserves to play always. Scott is young and he has good quality but this year was difficult for him.
“I think it is better if he can have another solution. If he stays here, maybe, everything can change but I can understand his frustration in this moment because he didn’t play a lot of games.
“For me, he is a good player. We have one team. For him, it was difficult. I repeat – he did everything well, he worked well, he is a good guy, he deserves to play. I can understand when one player can’t play often it is difficult.”
AFTER CITY
Within a year of signing for Manchester City Sinclair was on his way to West Brom on loan with Steve Clark having high hopes for the new arrival.
The West Brom boss said: “He’s the type of player we were missing from the squad. He’s a pure winger who is quick, direct and scores goals.
“Scott understands he needs to play football and we’re delighted he feels this is the right club for him at this stage of his career.
“He’s frustrated he didn’t get the chances to play at Man City last season and hopefully he’ll take those frustrations out on Premier League defenders this season.”
VILLA TURNS SOUR
A year ago it looked like things were turning in Sinclair’s favour after converting a loan deal into a permanent move.
Commenting on his signing Tim Sherwood said: “Scott’s one of those guys who has a knack of finding himself in the right position at the right time.
“He is a cool, calm finisher and I think you either score or you don’t and Scott has shown that he can score in his career.
“You could see that from that spell he had at Swansea so I’m looking to finding a place for him in the team so he can score goals.”
CELTIC CALLING?
After over a month of speculation John Kennedy confirmed Celtic’s interest in Sinclair as the hoops prepared to fly out to face Barcelona.
Rodgers appears to have a strong loyalty to former players and feels that he can get the 27-year-old’s career back on track.
Asked if a fee had been agreed with Villa Kennedy admitted: “There are a number of targets we’re looking at but we need to make sure they are the right ones.
“He [Sinclair] is one that has been mentioned but he’s still an Aston Villa player. We want to bring quality in and that is certainly the calibre of player we’re looking at.”