Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has revealed the club came close to signing England and Arsenal star Declan Rice during his previous spell at the club.
Rice, who joined Arsenal from West Ham in a £105million deal last summer, had been on the club’s radar – and could have ended up in the Hoops had an injury crisis not hampered his former club.
“I remember when I was here the first time, we spent about three months looking for Declan Rice to come in” he said.
“Declan was all set to come in and then all of a sudden they had an injury, he stayed and got in the team and the rest is history. That’s not the club’s fault – it’s just the way it goes.”
The Celtic manager highlighted the failed bid as he confirmed he was looking to get deals done early in the January window if possible.
“There is lots of work going on in the background, and I’m pretty sure that in this early period of the month, we can have some joy and get one or two in. Ideally you’d want to get them in (early).
“Deals can be complicated and things that might have been there for three or four months can fall away. That’s always the challenge – it only takes one injury to (affect) a player who was lined up to come in.”