As reported by The Scottish Sun, Brendan Rodgers has paid tribute to January Celtic signing Jack Hendry after the defender made his international debut for Scotland this week.
What’s the story?
Hendry won his first cap away to Hungary on Tuesday night, winning plaudits from supporters for his assured and mature performance.
Now Rodgers is backing him to improve even more, believing he has the attitude and confidence to become an excellent defender for club and country.
As quoted by The Scottish Sun, the Celtic boss said:
I think you saw how comfortable he was. For a player making his first appearance away from home on the international stage, he was very composed and looked as if he had played a lot more games than he has.
He made one critical interception in the game that I’m not sure too many Scottish centre-halves could make. The great thing with Jack is that he wants to learn and keep improving.
He has a real belief in his ability. It’s not an arrogance or overly confident. He just knows that he is a good player who has more to improve on.
But he has those special qualities that you need to play at the highest level.
Exciting words indeed for supporters, who are dying to find a central defender they can rely upon consistently, with the likes of Dedryck Boyata and Jozo Simunovic both making high profile errors this season.
Can Hendry make the position his own?
There were question marks when Rodgers initially brought Hendry to the club, with many fans looking for the club to invest in an experienced centre-back capable of immediately improving their fortunes in Europe.
Rodgers’ squad arguably still needs that but performances from Hendry like the the one against Hungary will go a long way to easing fears he doesn’t have what it takes to step up from domestic competition.
He’s beginning to show why he was brought to Celtic Park from Dundee and the chances of forming a partnership with Kristoffer Ajer next season are beginning to look strong.
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