Rodgers wants Forrest to sign new deal

Brendan Rodgers says he wants James Forrest to stay at Celtic a sign a new deal as he continues to impress the new boss.

The 25-year-old winger has shown a resurgence of form under Brendan Rodgers following a poor two years at Celtic under Ronny Deila.

His contract expires at the end of this year but negotiations between the club and his agent may take place in the coming weeks to sort out a new deal.

Speaking about the Scot to the Glasgow Evening Times, Rodgers said:

He wants to stay. I said to him when I first came in that I thought he’d been on loan for two seasons.

I wondered where he was. I remember down in England watching him and I saw this young player who I thought was a real talent, fast, dynamic, could get at people, and for whatever reason it hadn’t worked out for him in the last couple of seasons.

I had a joke with him that I’d like to see James Forrest back here because the guy who was here was away on loan for a couple of years.

Forrest has spent the entirety of his professional career at Celtic, scoring 31 goals and assisting on 27 occasions in 193 appearances.

He has continually struggled with injury since breaking into the Celtic side in 2010 and won the PFA Young Player of the Year Award, but hasn’t followed that up with a consistent run of form.

With a new lease of life under Rodgers and a goal on the opening day of the domestic season against Hearts, he could be set to remain at Celtic despite turning down a new contract in January.