Brendan Rodgers knows what it feels like to return to Celtic sooner than anybody could have anticipated. The Northern Irishman left the club amid heavy criticism in order to join Leicester City. He would end up back in the Parkhead hot seat in the summer of 2023 though, replacing Ange Postecoglou, and has already won three trophies since then as the circumstances surrounding his exit are now well and truly forgotten.
Kieran Tierney would leave Celtic just some months after Rodgers. He would join Arsenal in a then Scottish record transfer in the summer of 2019.
More than five years on and Tierney is still at Arsenal. His situation with the London club has evolved over time though.
Tierney has gone from being viewed as a future Arsenal captain to someone who barely has a role in the team. He made his first appearance of the season recently in their win against Crystal Palace in the League Cup.
Brendan Rodgers addresses Kieran Tierney Celtic return talks
Tierney's time at Arsenal seems to be coming to an end though as his contract runs out at the end of this season, after the club decided not to take up the option to extend it by 12 months. And unsurprisingly, Celtic have been suggested as the Scot's next club.
Rodgers knows Tierney well from their time working together at Celtic Park. While speaking with Sky Sports and as reported by The Herald, he said:
"Well, Kieran is someone I know really well but there's lots of players who have been linked with coming to Celtic.
"We will never speak about a player, especially a young player that's at another club.
"But we've got work to do, we know that. We want to improve the squad further in a number of key areas. But until that happens, the players here have been working so well.
"We'll just continue to work with them and see what happens in January."
That is exactly the kind of answer that you would expect from an experienced manager like Rodgers. But there simply cannot be nothing going on behind the scenes, considering the amount of rumours that have cropped up over the past few days.
It has been suggested that Celtic are considering a move in January. Not only that, it looks like Tierney might be open to a paycut as well, to make a return happen.