Despite maintaining a sheer dominance in Scottish football, Celtic are likely to witness several departures in summer and Brendan Rodgers, the Hoops boss, is already weighing up options to continue the supremacy at home and also an improved display in abroad. The former Liverpool boss is on the verge of historic back-to-back treble triumphs in his first two seasons in charge and the return of famous rivals Rangers to the top tier has not impacted their progress and growth as a football club.
They are not blessed to spend millions in the transfer market, yet Rodgers, the charismatic Northern Irishman, has been doing marvel on a shoestring at Parkhead. Players are enjoying their football under the gaffer and Nir Bitton, the Israeli international, is the recent name who has turned down an offer back from his homeland in order to continue his football for the Scottish champions.
Bitton, usually a defensive midfielder, played mostly in a central defensive role earlier this season due to the injuries of a number of first-team centre-backs but has been ruled out for the entire season following his knee surgery a couple of months back. He joined the Hoops in the summer of 2013 from F.C. Ashdod and went on winning seven major titles prior to the ongoing campaign.
Bitton has not been a regular first-team starter but is doing fine as a squad player who has delivered whenever club has asked him for his services. He still has two more years left to his current deal to run down and is currently enjoying life as well as football in Glasgow.
“I am not going back to Israel, it’s not on my agenda. I am currently injured and I am under contract with Celtic until 2020. I am not interested in a transfer.”
Stated the player who has been heavily linked to a move to Maccabi Haifa, the Israeli outfit, who are having a dismal campaign but promised to recruit high-profile names in summer to contest for the silverware and Bitton was one of their prime transfer targets to script a resurgence from next season onwards.
Celtic already got a handful of midfield options in their ranks – skipper Scott Brown, Olivier Ntcham, Stuart Armstrong, Callum McGregor, Tom Rogic and also Ryan Christie, who is currently on loan at Aberdeen but set to return to his parent club following an impressive spell. However, there might be a few departures too and Bitton will have a big role to play for once he recovers from his injury and returns to action.
