‘The truth is’… Brendan Rodgers and 23-year-old Celtic player now have a ‘major trust issue’

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Over the past few days, a lot has been written about Celtic, their transfers and how the season has gone spectacularly wrong.

Having blown a ten-point gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership, failing to add enough players in the January window and serious questions being asked about their summer recruitment, there is plenty for the Celtic fans to be worried about this week.

And I haven’t even touched on the poor form of players like Kyogo Furuhashi and the injury issues still plaguing Brendan Rodgers.

However, it is the relationship between Rodgers and Alexandro Bernabei that has come under question now.

Journalist, Keith Jackson, has claimed that there are problems between the two and that the Celtic manager was ‘crystal clear’ at the start of his second tenure exactly what he thought about the player Ange Postecoglou spent £3.75m on.

Writing in his column in the Daily Record, Jackson said, “The truth is that Rodgers simply does not believe Bernabei can be relied upon to fill in for the injured Greg Taylor and he’s made that crystal clear since his early days back in the job.

“There is a major trust issue between the pair which, funnily enough, represents a microcosm of the wider issues engulfing the champions at a critical point in the campaign.” 

Brendan Rodgers’ verdict on Alexandro Bernabei

The Celtic manager included the Argentine in the first-team lineup against Ros County earlier this season and whilst he seemed happy enough to start the 23-year-old, his words are very telling on what he thinks of him.

Rodgers said [BBC Radio Scotland via 67 Hail Hail], “I think he hasn’t had his best time here, that’s the brutal honesty of it. I just asked him to play in the games like what I’ve seen from him in training at times.

“He’s aggressive, he’s quick but he needs to serve the ball with precision a little better. He has qualities, that’s why he was signed.

“He’s a guy who can hopefully show his best form because in training I’ve seen lots of good qualities from him. Greg Taylor has played at a really, really good level consistently.”

Hardly a glowing endorsement when Rodgers basically admits he’s just playing Bernabei out of necessity due to the injury to Greg Taylor.

Whatever is going on with Bernabei, one thing is absolutely clear, the Argentine is simply not good enough to play for Celtic.

With Rodgers clearly not fancying Bernabei earlier this season, the time is going to come when the club will look to offload him.

Whether they recoup much of the hefty fee that was paid for him almost two seasons ago is unlikely and the club may well have to take a financial hit when he eventually does move on.

In other news, ‘Do us a favour’… Ally McCoist reacts after what Graeme Souness has just said about Celtic and Rangers