CELTIC star Emilio Izaguirre has revealed that he intends to stay at Celtic and has confirmed that Brendan Rodgers wants to sign him up on a new contract.
The popular Honduran left back wants to spend another three years in Glasgow before winding down on his playing career with a stint in the MLS. He then hopes to utilize all that he has learned in the game by going into management back home in Honduras.
“I am proud to have played for Celtic for so long and grateful to the fans and the board,” Izzy said.
“The Celtic manager has told me he wants to keep me.
“My wish is to stay for three more years with my family and then go to the MLS for two years and finish my career for four or five years at Motagua in Honduras.
“And my ultimate goal is to become the manager of Motagua. I have learned so much from the many great coaches I have played under and I think that would help me hugely when I retire and go into management.
“I have had offers to go to other teams for many years, but at Celtic I get to play in Europe. In my view, the Champions League is better than the World Cup,” Izzy stated.
“I have won many trophies and been treated well in Glasgow. God willing, that’s where my future will be.
“With regards to concrete offers, in my first season at Celtic when I won Player of the Year, there was an offer from a Premier League club in England.
“I was close to going because there were some of my team mates made that move to England, but Celtic gave me the opportunity to continue with them and I decided to stay.”
Izaguirre also revealed that he has put club before country as Celtic prepare for the vital Champions League qualifiers by opting out of this summer’s Gold Cup in the States to concentrate on Celtic. The player, who has won 88 caps to date explained.
“The Celtic manager has spoken to Jorge Luis Pinto about my summer plans and I will not be with the Gold Cup squad.
“I will be do the full pre-season with Celtic because we have Champions League qualifying. I will be back in Scotland this week.”
HAVE YOU LISTENED TO THE NEW CQN PODCAST YET? YOU’LL LOVE IT!
Also on CQN today…
HAYES WILL BE A HIT IN THE HOOPS
GRIFF AIMS TO BE A TON-UP BHOY
THE LYING KING STARTS TITLE STRIPPING DEBATE
