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Rodgers refuses to entertain Arsenal rumours and criticises quick-to-sack Premier League policy

Brendan Rodgers continues to be billed as a potential successor to Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, but the Celtic boss is in no rush to return to the Premier League.

The Northern Irishman has previously worked in the English top-flight with Swansea and Liverpool – carrying the Reds agonisingly close to title glory in 2013-14.

He is now flourishing in Scotland, with records and trophies aplenty collected during a productive stint at Parkhead.

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Rodgers’ efforts have earned him a link to Arsenal – with it being suggested that a vacancy could soon open up at Emirates Stadium – but the 45-year-old is reluctant to step back into a pressurised environment which sees managers given less freedom than he currently enjoys in Glasgow.

Quizzed on the Gunners rumours by the Daily Mail, Rodgers said: “If you’re happy, ultimately that’s all that matters.

“The money’s irrelevant. You can have X amount of pounds in your bank every month but if you’re not happy and you’re not finding peace in what you’re doing, it doesn’t really matter.

“I love the Premier League, the quality of the players, the quality of the coaches. There are great challenges. But there are arms and legs flying off managers down there.

“You can come here and my genuine love is improving people and making them better, helping the club improve and getting the chance to develop and win things and see people improve. Or do you go somewhere where you might have six games? That wouldn’t make me happy. So it’s a Catch 22.

“I came here because I was asked by the major shareholder, Dermot Desmond, to be the architect of the club. I don’t have to control absolutely everything because it is very difficult to do that now in the modern game. I don’t need that.

“But I just want to work with good people that have one vision for the team and the club and that is what I have here. I’m not in any rush to come away from that.

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“Celtic are one of the great clubs of the world. There’s a pressure here that’s different. You have to win every game. There’s not a club in England that has that. You can go to Old Trafford as Liverpool manager and get a draw and it’s not a bad result.

“At Celtic, there’s an expectancy to win home and away. I’ve been 10 years as a manager now and I’ve done a lot of learning. The biggest thing you can have as a football manager is happiness and energy. Sometimes, if you are doing OK, people tend to want to move you. It’s the way it is.”

Rodgers added on his future plans, which he concedes are likely to lie away from Celtic: “I’m in a position where I’m in my dream job.

“As a guy from Northern Ireland who supported Celtic and worked in football, I’m living my dream here. I want to work through until I’m 60 and get to a thousand games and I probably know I won’t do the other 500-odd games here at Celtic.

“I know how quickly it can all change. I nearly won the title at Liverpool and everybody’s saying, ‘Sign him up’, then very quickly I was out. Now I stay calm with it and never be complacent and do the best I can for the club.

“Winning is winning as a football manager and wherever that is, that feeling doesn’t change.”

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