One of Celtic FC’s most loyal and longest serving players in recent times, Emilio Izaguirre, is set to leave the club at the end of his contract in 2017. The Honduran had become one of those players that bleed Celtic through and through. With his tough tackling and no-nonsense defending, the 30-year-old had become a fan favourite and was even one of their best players in recent seasons.
The Honduran had joined Celtic FC back in 2010 and has made over 200 appearances for the Scottish side across six years at the club. Izaguirre had even picked up five Scottish Premiership titles with the Hoops. It might come as a shock to many but he is being linked with many top clubs and could leave for free next season.
The problem lies with the fact that the player notched up only 17 league appearances for the side last season and with the rising stock of Kieran Tierney, the number of games for the 30-year-old could further reduce this season.
Werder Bremen is one of the clubs that is after the signature of the Honduran and while moving to Germany might give Izaguirre a chance to test his luck in a different league, he probably won’t win a title with the German club anytime soon.
However, players usually don’t stay at clubs just for the success but they want to play and spend time on the pitch, something that has not been happening for Izaguirre over the last season and it should continue under Rodgers as the Northern Irish manager seems to prefer Tierney and for good measure, since the defender is younger and seems to be in better form at the moment.
It isn’t that Izaguirre would not be missed at the club; Brendan Rodgers does have a history of wanting to keep players with a lot of experience as we have seen with the likes of Kolo Toure at Liverpool and the Honduran could become the next player to follow this route under the new Celtic manager.
The problem at the moment for Izaguirre is the fact that he will not be playing every game for the club and if he does want to play regular football then a move away from Celtic Park is the right option for him. Celtic, on the other hand, would want to keep him for as long as possible as he provides a lot of quality to the team and the experience he has is invaluable too.
Celtic would not want to lose out on one of their best players in recent years but a lack of football for Izaguirre could mean he may want a move away. That would be a great decision for Izaguirre as he gets more football but it would the wrong deal for Celtic.