Neil Lennon Hints at New Deal for Brendan Rodgers ‘Outcast’ – view

NEIL LENNON may only be at the club on an interim basis but when it comes to some of the players and their influence in the dressing room, the Irishman knows a lot about Mikael Lustig.

Lenny brought the Swede to Celtic back in his first stint as Celtic manager and now as they have reunited again at Celtic Park it only took one game for Neil to bring Lustig back in from the cold.

The defender’s contract runs out at the end of the season but the club does have a one-year extension option they can trigger at any time. Lustig is not short of offers with clubs back in Sweden desperate to bring him in this summer. However, Mikael only said he’ll head back to his home country when Celtic don’t want him anymore.

His exit looked likely under Brendan Rodgers but could Neil Lennon be the man to convince Celtic to trigger the extension. The interim Celtic boss believes Mikael still has a lot to give.

“I’m not writing off Mikael. I know what he’s capable of and I know what a player he is.” Neil Lennon told CelticTV.

“What Mikael has done for the last seven or eight years is play non-stop football, whether it be 40 or 50 games a season, European qualifiers, World Cup qualifiers, cup finals.

“He’s played every game possible and eventually the fatigue or stiffness or whatever you want to call it creeps in.

“But he’s been a top player for this club and for his country and he’s still got plenty to offer Celtic.”