BT Sport pundit John Hartson believes that Scott Brown still has a big role to play at Celtic and that the club should be ensuring he doesn’t leave for Australia during the January transfer window.
The captain’s current contract expires at the end of the season, with reports this week suggesting that he could make the switch to new A-League outfit Western Melbourne.
However, former Hoops striker Hartson believes criticism that he is on the decline at Celtic has been overstated and that the club will need him in the closing stages of the 2018/19 season.
As quoted by The Evening Times, the Welshman said:
I’ve heard people say he could head off to Australia now, that his time has come, that his influence is on the wane at Celtic.
But I just don’t buy it. I think you need players at the club like Brown who are leaders and who know what it is all about.
Celtic remain on top of the league, they have a Europa league game against Valencia to look forward to and you have to remember that they are still going for a treble Treble. This is not the time where you want to be losing players but rather making sure that you come back out of the window stronger than when you went into it.
The paper report that Celtic have in fact offered a short-term deal to the 33-year-old, but are set to give him the time and space to decide what is best in the final stages of his long and illustrious footballing career.
Brown’s form may not be at the peak standards he has set at the club previous, with the weekend’s derby against Rangers particularly poor, but Hartson is right to assert that he is still a huge part of Brendan Rodgers’ side.
Having him in the dressing room and competing for first-team places is more of a benefit than a hindrance to Celtic, even if the preferred midfield choice of fans is a Callum McGregor and Ryan Christie combination.
We can’t be losing our big players this month, with additions vital to really push on in the second half of the season.
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