Varun Pai
Neil Lennon believes Brendan Rodgers is happy at Leicester City amidst potential Manchester United interest
Speaking to Express Sport, former Celtic manager Neil Lennon has claimed that Brendan Rodgers is happy with his work at Leicester City amidst potential interest from Manchester United.
The Red Devils are likely to be on the hunt for a permanent manager in the summer. Ralf Rangnick was appointed at the start of this month but has only been hired on an interim basis. His brand of football has been a good watch, but he is expected to take up a consultancy role after the end of this campaign.
Thus, John Murtough and Richard Arnold shall be on the search for a new name to take on the managerial hot seat at Old Trafford if Rangnick doesn’t see himself appointed on a permanent basis. Brendan Rodgers is a name that has been whispered as a potential candidate, while there were several links to him after the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
However, Rodgers’ successor at Celtic, Neil Lennon, believes the Northern Irishman could stay put at Leicester as he is happy with the work he is doing in the Midlands.
“This [interest] is all a testament to the work that he (Rodgers) has done, not just from his time at Leicester, but Celtic and Liverpool too. His progression throughout his career is on an upward trajectory all the time.
“He has come out and been really firm that he does not believe the speculation, and that he is happy at Leicester. Clubs always get their resolve tested. It might be a big enough carrot for Brendan, but he is happy in his work at Leicester.”
Man United have a bigger ceiling
Rodgers has done really well at the King Power since his appointment in 2019. He has recruited incredibly and has narrowly missed out on the Top 4 twice in a row. Moreover, he has promoted youngsters and churned the best out of veterans to form one of the best squads in England.
Thus, it is understandable that he must be delighted with his work there. Regardless, he has to climb up the ladder at some point since it could take a while before Leicester wine and dine with the big boys consistently. They might have produced heroics in 2016 but are still lacking quality depth in the squad to really go toe-to-toe with Man City, Man United, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Tottenham Hotspur.
The Old Trafford outfit, on the other hand, have a squad ready to win things. Moreover, with Rangnick running the show behind the scenes next year, it would be an exciting time to manage the 13-time Premier League champions.
The 48-year-old manager has worked hard to get where he is. But it is time for him to add some trophies to his CV. It remains to be seen if his previous links with Liverpool play any part in him joining or rejecting United, but that did not stop Rafael Benitez from becoming Everton manager.
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Rodgers put out a strong Leicester team in the League Cup quarter-final last week but still could not manage a win against a considerably weakened Liverpool team. While it was just one game, it gives an insight into his managerial career so far where he has so often fallen at the last hurdle, most notably with Liverpool in the 2013/14 season.
It remains to be seen if we ever appoint him, but there certainly are managers who have proven themselves as title winners in some of the top leagues in the world, and while we can do worse than appointing Rodgers, we can also do better.
