Rodgers on Musonda

Brendan Rodgers is confident that he will see the best of Charly Musonda next season.

The midfielder made a four minute appearance at Hamilton on Sunday with Tom Rogic, Stuart Armstrong and Callum McGregor competing for his preferred position in the team.

Musonda is on an 18 month loan deal with Rodgers looking at the current campaign as an introduction period with next season the time for the young Belgian to make a big impact.

“It’s a different type of loan for Charly compared to when he went to Spain and had to succeed straight away,” the Celtic boss explained to the Daily Record.

“Here he has 18 months to settle in, find the way of working and realising the pressures of a big club but he’s enjoying every minute of it and he knows that over time here that he will get an opportunity to show it in training where he works well and then in the games. It’s just time, that’s all.

“All players want to play but he’s no different to Patrick Roberts or some of the others. They have a respect for where they are and what the team is doing. They respect that you can only pick 11 players.

“He’s absolutely fine. He’s here for the 18 months and by the end of that he knows he is going to be a better player.

“He’ll make some appearances from when he arrived in January to the end of this season. Then I think next season will be a big one for him to make his mark.”

Musonda’s biggest moment since joining Celtic was creating Callum McGregor’s goal against Zenit St Petersburg in the Europa League.

The 21-year-old has started in the SPFL against Kilmarnock and St Johnstone but with Celtic failing to score in either game he has had little chance to shine.

In January a dozen clubs enquired about taking Musonda on loan from Chelsea but the combination of working with Rodgers and possible Champions League football convinced the midfielder to move to Glasgow.