Jonny Hayes may be granted Celtic rebirth in the left-back role

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During the January transfer window, Jonny Hayes was close to ending his Celtic nightmare by completing a return to Aberdeen.

Since his 2017 switch from Aberdeen to Celtic, Hayes has struggled to make an impact as an attacking midfielder.

And the 31-year-old had only played seven games this season with Brendan Rodgers seemingly keen on his other options instead.

TEAMtalk reported that a return to Aberdeen was close but this move never materialised and Hayes was stuck at Celtic.

Nevertheless, he has somehow worked his way back into Rodgers’ plans, but not as he may have expected.

Hayes is naturally a winger but in early February, he played the final few minutes of Celtic’s win over Hibernian at left-back.

Since then, the Irishman has started the next three games as a left-back, helping the Bhoys to back-to-back clean sheets.

And in last night’s 1-0 loss against Valencia, Hayes produced an impressive performance in that department to justify his selection ahead of Emilio Izaguirre.

When Kieran Tierney returns from injury, Hayes knows that he will be relegated to the bench again.

But if he is happy to deputise as a left-back or left-wing-back, then this could be his rebirth at Celtic.

With Izaguirre set to leave in the summer, Rodgers may have found his new back-up left-back for next season.