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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Keifer MacDonald

Ex-Celtic star takes bizarre swipe at Andy Robertson after Liverpool defender's transfer admission

Former Celtic midfielder Paul Grant has slammed Liverpool's Andy Robertson after the defender admitted he would one day consider playing for his boyhood club if he was to ever leave Anfield.

Robertson, who was on the books of Celtic as a teenager and had a season ticket at Parkhead, was released from the Scottish giants for being labelled as too small. However, the Scotland captain has since forged himself a reputation as one of Europe's finest left-backs since moving to Anfield in 2017 from Hull City, having won every trophy on offer with the Reds.

And speaking on BT Sport's new Scottish football podcast, Currie Club, the 28-year-old admitted he would one day like to play for Celtic if his career at Anfield came to a premature end.

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"Every time I watch Celtic, I consider it,” said Robertson. “When you watch them and see a packed Celtic Park... as a fan you always have that dream.

“Ideally I want to finish my career here at Liverpool. If I can stay at the top of my game, at the top of the tree my whole career, that’s the route I want to go down.

“But also, when I look at Celtic and when I was growing up, I was thinking I wanted to give them my best years. When I was at Queen’s Park I had a dream of still playing with Celtic and always dreamed of giving my best years to Celtic."

But that has prompted a furious reaction from the Hoops' former midfielder Grant, who played over 300 times for the Scottish side, who insists that Robertson - like Steven Gerrard during his time as Rangers manager - is being disrespectful to Liverpool.

"Many a people have had that dream," Grant told Go Radio on Friday. "I spoke about when Steven Gerrard kept talking about being the manager at Liverpool while he was the manager at Rangers, I don't like that.

"Your club should be your focus. Football has a funny way of kicking you. I think you've just got to concentrate on what you are doing just now and get back playing well with Liverpool, be successful there.

"At the end of the day if he ends up playing for Celtic then fantastic. Me, as a Liverpool supporter, you are not talking about someone at 35 coming to the end, he is 28. Your concentration level should be on your club. We can all have dreams. But certain things you have got to keep to yourself.

"It's different if you are late in your career and coming to the end of it, and Andy is hopefully not. It annoyed me with Steven Gerrard when he was at big club like Rangers, and it would annoy me if I was a Liverpool and Celtic supporter.

"I don't like that. Concentrate on the job in front of you. Football is very much day to day and you've got to be single minded."

While Robertson was transparent in his desire to one day play for Celtic if the circumstances allowed it, his commitment to the Reds has never been in doubt during his five years on Merseyside. Much like Grant's claim on Gerrard, who repeatedly played down links and murmurs linking him as Jurgen Klopp 's successor during his time north of the border, Robertson made his suggestion of one day making the move back to Glasgow if his services were no longer required by Liverpool.

Having signed a new five-year contract at Anfield last summer, it's fair to say Robertson won't be going anywhere any time soon.

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