Teenager rejects Leicester City and signs Celtic deal

Things keep getting worse for Leicester City and Brendan Rodgers. Now, a teenager has snubbed both in favour of signing a deal with Celtic.

It’s not been a good week for Brendan Rodgers and Leicester City. Losses against Chelsea and Everton this week have left fans frustrated and calling for the managers head. Failing to sign a young Celtic player he was interested in will hardly have helped cheer him up.

Ts’oanelo Lets’osa was one of several academy players signed up with contract extensions by Celtic today. Signed back in 2017 he’s made a great impression, if not an actual first team appearance. So much so that Leicester City, who had been showing an interest in the player, was turned down as he put his pen to a Hoops contract. We know Leicester and Rodgers probably have different views on contracts and sticking to them, but whatever those views are it’s a snub by Lets’osa for them at the moment.

Leicestershire Live reported that when Lets’osa played for the Scotland under-16 team in the Victory Shield there was strong interest in the young Celt..

"“Scouts from over 60 clubs attending the event were impressed by his ability and potential.”"

That’s pretty impressive and you’d imagine the player is keen to emulate the likes of Callum McGregor and James Forrest’s progress from the academy to the first team. It’s not unreasonable that we might expect to see a breakthrough here too at some point.

He was one of a clutch of players signed today on contract extensions while others signed professionally for the first time at Celtic. Stephen Welsh led the way in those, and at just 20 he’s already made his first team debut in February 2020 having returned in January from loan at Morton.

It’s the exciting Lets’osa who will disturb Rodgers most though with that snub. We may not know have seen much of him, but the fans will already be loving him for his approach. You can’t predict future success but it’s pretty safe to say the player has more chance of becoming a Celtic legend than those who walk away.