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Rodgers: I expect Jozo will soon be getting offered £100,000 a week

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Image for Rodgers: I expect Jozo will soon be getting offered £100,000 a week

Brendan Rodgers believes that it’s only a matter of time before Jozo Simunovic is being offered £100,000 a week from England.

The 22-year-old has made a big impression on his new manager and was outstanding in Celtic’s 1-0 Betfred Cup win over Sevco at Hampden.

Weekend reports suggested that Crystal Palace and Newcastle were preparing January bids for the defender that was signed from Dinamo Zagreb last August.

After almost losing Simunovic to Torino at the end of the summer transfer window Rodgers is delighted to have the opportunity to work with with the defender and is in no rush to cash in.

It’s very hard if a player is offered 80, 90 or 100 grand a week to say no to that,” the Celtic boss stated. “But, being a young player, Jozo has time. He just needs to get back fit and becoming available for every game.

Once he does that and shows consistently how he has been in the last number of weeks, if he can have a run like that over the next couple of years, then of course he is going to be a sought-after player.

Because centre-halves and strikers, in particular, are very much in demand. If you have a top one then even more so.”

Without kicking a ball for Rodgers it seemed like Simunovic was about to be sold to Torino as the summer transfer window was closing.

A deal between the two clubs was agreed but after flying to Italy with Joe Hart the defender returned to Scotland without putting pen to paper.

The precise details of what happened at Torino are unlikely to ever emerge with Rodgers happy to live for today and work with the defender.

I said at the time that I was delighted he never went to Torino,” the Celtic boss added. “I hadn’t seen a lot of him at that stage. That was the thing.

There was obviously the chance for him to go without being fit, really. Thankfully, it fell through and he stayed. As soon as you saw him back in training, you thought, ‘Once this boy is fit, we have a proper player here.’

You saw the ease with which he went through the game on Sunday. Both centre-halfs were outstanding. I’m having to manage him back in because he’s been out for so long. You just have to be careful with a young player when he’s had that injury.”

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