Erik Sviatchenko would love to return to Celtic this summer to fight for his place - but has acknowledged that it will be Brendan Rodgers who makes the call on whether or not he has a future in Glasgow.

The Celtic manager called to check in on the player last month following his January exit from the club and while ideally Sviatchenko would like to return to the Celtic dressing room for the start of a new season, he has admitted that what comes next in his career is out of his hands.

“The transition has been easy because I lived here for ten years before so it has all gone very smoothly,” he said. “I also have played since the first minute I arrived at the club. In the last month I have played five games and have also trained very well. I am close to reaching the percentages that I would like to be at but in the next few weeks I will hopefully catch up to that level.

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“It is lovely for my family to be near my son and for him to see his grandparents a little more regularly just now. It is nice for everyone.

“It is difficult to give a verdict on what will happen in the summer. Much of that is because it is not down to me. I will always be positive and give my best and right now it would be amazing to be part of a Midtjylland side who went on to win the title. That would be amazing.

“I want to focus my energy on that and then in the summer I will speak to Brendan Rodgers and see what his thoughts are. Ultimately it is his decision. I am at an age now where I need to play football. I don’t want to be in and out.

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“I think I need to play now to keep developing and improving. I am positive but I am also realistic and I know that it comes down to what the manager thinks and he is very honest. I spoke to him last month. Brendan called me to see if we had settled in here and I thought that was a very nice gesture. He was pleased that I was in the team and playing games and we will see what happens now over the next four months.”