Nir Bitton has revealed that his Celtic career could have been over six years ago.
Last Saturday the midfielder made his final appearance in the hoops, coming on as a second half substitute to take the armband from Callum McGregor for the last 10 minutes of the 6-0 win over Motherwell.
Bitton has rarely been a regular during his nine years at Celtic but successive managers called upon him when first picks haven’t been available.
Neil Lennon signed the midfielder from FC Ashdod of Israel in 2013 but when Brendan Rodgers swept in as manager in May 2016 the writing was on the wall for some of the old guard.
Charlie Mulgrew and Anthony Stokes were moved on, Kris Commons never played a minute under the former Liverpool boss with Bitton also lined up for a departure.
Picking up on a podcast from Israel, The Sun reports Bitton saying:
Let me tell you something no one knows. When Brendan Rodgers came to coach at Celtic, the club were in bad shape after losing the cup semi-final to Rangers, who were then playing in League Two.
My former agent told me that Rodgers didn’t have me and that the team was trying to get rid of me, and then an offer came from Espanyol.
I’m a person with an ego. When they don’t give me the chance, I’m going to show everyone what I’m worth.
After a week of preparation for next season, Rodgers came up to me and said, ‘Big Ben, you can play. it’s your time.’
I smiled at him, and then I got a message from my agent, ‘Say, you’re serious, what have you done? Now they won’t sell you.’ I don’t regret it, I stayed in a huge club.
Bitton started the 2016/17 season in the centre of the Celtic midfield alongside Scott Brown but by the turn of the year he found himself on the fringes of the side with Callum McGregor and Stuart Armstrong emerging as significant forces in the Invincible side.
