James Forrest nearly left Celtic under Ronny Deila

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James Forrest has signed a new deal at Celtic, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2023. The winger looks increasingly likely to become a one-club man having joined the club as a wean way back in 2003. 

The Scotland international has become a key player at Celtic and right now it is hard to envisage him playing in anything other than green-and-white hoops. 

However, had Ronny Deila not have left Celtic in the summer of 2016, that might have happened. 

Forrest was out of contract at the end of 2016 and Deila was not using Forrest regularly. In fact, as Kris Commons told BBC Scotland in 2017, the Norwegian overlooked Forrest who even missed out on training with the first-team. 

So it was no surprise when Forrest decided he might not be signing a new deal at the club. Deila himself, as reported by Sky Sports, later suggested that Forrest’s Celtic career could be coming to an end. 

“We offered him a contract and he has turned it down. He has told us he wishes to see what his other options are.

“I cannot see that we will go back to him with another improved deal because to my mind it was a very good offer that the club put to him.”

However, after an increasingly fractious relationship with the Celtic fanbase, Deila stepped down at Parkhead that summer and was replaced by Brendan Rodgers. 

The Northern Irishman took an immediate liking to Forrest and turned him into a regular at Celtic. Forrest signed a new deal that August and now it looks like he may never leave. 

But it could have been very different had Deila hung around.