Greg Taylor and Callum McGregor , Dens Park, Dundee v Celtic. 14th January 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou
Q: Are there reports in the last couple of days from Croatia about Greg Taylor potentially agreeing on a pre-contract with Dino Zagreb? Has this situation changed at all as far as you’re aware?
Brendan Rodgers: “No, not that I’m aware of. And I know there was interest there back in January but it was nothing that was ever concrete or spoken about too much. My feelings will be still to help to convince Greg to be here. Of course, as time goes on, the longer it goes on, then that becomes much less but it doesn’t change his profession. He’s a brilliant professional and we’ll just have to see how the next four months go.
Debut Bhoy Jeffrey Schlupp. Celtic v Dundee, Celtic Park, 5 February 2025. Photo Stuart Wallace
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Q: Bringing in Jeffrey Schlupp adds competition in that area in January. I don’t think we’ve had the chance to ask you about him. He was saying that there was interest in the summer initially from the club and that maybe could have happened. Are you quite pleased you managed to eventually get that deal done?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, very pleased because it just happened the cover and the positions are important for us. We didn’t expect to lose Alex Valle. So then we need cover. So to bring in someone of his experience, he only spent the last decade or so in the Premier League. I know through people I know well at Leicester City that he’s a young player who came through there and came through the system and won the Premier League. So I had a real depth of his character and his mentality and everything else. That fitted into here perfectly.
Jeffrey Schlupp of Celtic Celtic v Dundee, Celtic Park, 5 February 2025 Photo Stuart Wallace, Shutterstock
“So yeah, I’m looking forward to seeing him come here and showcase his talents when he has the opportunity. It will be good for him to experience being here because you’re in the Premier League, you think the Premier League is the only league in the world with so many big clubs but they come here and they recognise the size of this club, the institution that it is, the pressures that are here that will be different to wherever he’s played before in his career. I’m pretty sure he’ll enjoy the city of Glasgow as well. So yeah, and I know that he is, he’s really looking forward to it.”
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