Brendan Rodgers Talks Arsenal Speculation, Celtic Future
Brendan Rodgers has described managing Celtic as "living in a dream" despite ongoing speculation linking him with taking over from Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.
Rodgers said the Gunners are a "great club" but revealed he isn't worried about the speculation, per Joe Shread of Sky Sports.
Having led the Hoops to a domestic treble last season, Rodgers talked up how happy he is in Glasgow, Scotland, but his comments also left the door ajar for an exit: "I'm loving my life up here. I'm not going to be here forever but I'm living in a dream. Dreams always come to an end at some point, that's for sure. But I am always relaxed about speculation. My focus is only on Celtic."
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Focusing on Arsenal's struggles, Rodgers reminded people about his recent track record of getting teams into the UEFA Champions League:
"Arsenal are a great club, they have a great manager and they are going through a tough time of course."
"People will look at it and see that I went to Liverpool, they were struggling for five seasons for Champions League football and I was able to get them back."
"And when I came to Celtic, they hadn't been in the Champions League for two seasons and I got them back."
Ultimately though, the 45-year-old emphasised he "can't control" the speculation linking him to north London.
There are two ways to interpret Rodgers' words. One is at face value, as a straightforward admission from the man who guided Celtic to a 69-match unbeaten run he is content with life in the Scottish Premiership.
The other way would be to read a coded offering of his resume in Rodgers' comments. Mentioning the knack for Champions League qualification is significant since Arsenal are sixth in the English top flight and 13 points adrift of north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur and the last qualification place for Europe's premier club competition.
Pressure has intensified on Wenger's position as a second season without Champions League football looks increasingly likely.
Such pressure has led to reports of players-only meetings, with Neil Ashton of The Sun reporting centre-back Laurent Koscielny was in tears after back-to-back 3-0 defeats to league leaders Manchester City.
Ashton also said Wenger has lost the support of chief executive Ivan Gazidis, chairman Sir Chips Keswick and director Lord Harris of Peckham.
Wenger's future looks bleaker still after former Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood, who hired the Frenchman in 1996, told David Woods of the Daily Star, the 68-year-old has "overstayed his welcome."
Rodgers is reportedly on a shortlist of candidates who could replace Wenger this summer, despite the Arsenal boss having one year remaining on his contract, per Jeremy Wilson and Matt Law of the Daily Telegraph.
An interesting candidate, Rodgers coaches an attractive brand of football, one he used to help beat Wenger's Gunners during spells with Swansea City and Liverpool. Rodgers took the latter to the brink of the title in 2013/14, with a free-flowing Reds squad scoring 101 goals in the process.
However, defensive failings ultimately cost Liverpool, with Rodgers' team famously wasting a three-goal lead to draw 3-3 at Crystal Palace and help hand the title to Manchester City.
Celtic have dominated domestically on Rodgers' watch but have struggled to keep clean sheets in Europe, being eliminated from both the Champions League and UEFA Europa League this season.
Considering defensive fragility has so often undermined Wenger's forward-thinking teams, Arsenal may want to examine a candidate with a more balanced style and philosophy than Rodgers.
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