NEIL LENNON has spoken to Emilio Izaguirre about extending his stay in Scotland and the player himself has confirmed that the club have now offered him a one year contract extension.
The 32 year old left back was signed by Neil Lennon in his first season as Celtic manager and left after the Invincible season for an ill-fated short spell in the Middle East with Al-Fayha. His family couldn’t settle in Saudi Arabia and he returned after a year away to provide the cover for Kieran Tierney.
“Celtic have offered me another one-year deal on my contract,” Emilio said to the Honduran publication Diez, as reported in Daily Record.
“I don’t know what I am going to do yet. I am discussing it with my family. Neil Lennon has spoken to me and he wants me to remain at Celtic. But I want to be closer to Honduras when I play with the national team.
“I hope something comes up in the MLS for me. That’s the wish of me and my wife. So my future is difficult to predict. My agent is dealing with it at the moment and when I return to Honduras in the summer, I will decide.
“It’s difficult because my children have grown up here in Scotland. My son doesn’t need a translator – he speaks to us in a Scottish accent!
“Only God knows whether I will remain in Scotland.”
Emilio is now the the most decorated Honduran player to play abroad and he reflects on his first season when a league title was rather carelessly lost up at Inverness.
“The most special one was my first trophy at Celtic. In my first season we lost a League Cup Final to Rangers and lost the league on the last day of the season after being in front all year.
“So to win the first title was very special and now I have seven league titles. I once won Player of the Year and that was very special to me because of the affection I received from the fans.
“This season I was delighted that Neil Lennon came back. He was with me for four years and was like a father figure to me.
“Thank God he returned and he is still counting on me.
“I’ve played in the Champions League and got to the Last 16, I’ve played in two World Cups so I have had a fulfilling career.
“I’ve played against Lionel Messi in the Champions League and Cristiano Ronaldo in a friendly. But I am very proud to be Honduran. I wouldn’t change that for anything.”
A few things to take from this story, other than everyone will of course respect the Izaguirre family wishes if they can get the MLS move sorted out. They’d leave with everyone’s best wishes – Emilio has had a fine career at Celtic.
Secondly Izaguirre reveals that Neil Lennon is making the plans and sorting out the player’s contracts for next season. It certainly points to Lenny being the boss for next season, does it not?
And if Emilio is getting a contract extension surely Mikael Lustig must be getting one too? Or are we missing something?
The other day we put up a Poll and asked you to vote on whether Lustig should get offered one year, two years or be allowed to leave in the summer. You can add your vote below and also check out the results.
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