FORMER Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has opened up on the reasons for his acrimonious departure for the club, revealing that he felt the move was "too good to turn down".

In an interview in the Telegraph, Rodgers admitted that he would have only left Celtic if the right job came along - and if he felt that he had taken the club as far as he could go.

Rodgers said: "I lived my dream managing Celtic, a club I supported. That journey will always be with me. But every manager and players will have goals and objectives they want to achieve in their career.

Glasgow Times:

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"Your situation can change very quickly. We won seven trophies on the spin and if I felt I could not take Celtic further it had to be the right club and I thought Leicester was too good an opportunity to turn down. The timing was not ideal but I left the team in a good place.

"I looked at Leicester and felt we could develop a way of working to improve the team. I see players like James Maddison, who is better than I thought when I saw him at Aberdeen and Norwich. He loves the game. Then there is exciting young talent like Ben Chilwell and Harvey Barnes.

"It is still all going to take time. The gap has increased between the top and the rest of the top six, so there is still a big ask to close that. We spent £19million net in the summer and lost our centre-half, but it does not stop us wanting to challenge. I am loving it here and the challenge of taking the team up there."