Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers will let Hibs sign Scott Allan permanently but won’t sell Ryan Christie to Aberdeen

BRENDAN RODGERS has given Hibs the green light to sign on-loan midfielder Scott Allan during the summer.

But he will refuse to sell Ryan Christie to Aberdeen.

Allan, signed from the Edinburgh club by Ronny Deila in 2015, has never played under Rodgers.

The 26-year-old was sent out on loan to Rotherham last season, and spent the first half of the current campaign with Dundee.

He returned to Easter Road in January as part of the deal which saw Celtic buy defender Jack Hendry from the Tayside club and take goalkeeper Scott Bain – who had been on loan from the Dark Blues – from Hibs until the end of the season.

Allan has another year left on his Parkhead contract, but Rodgers is willing to let him leave in the summer.

“I watched the Rangers -Hibs game the other day and thought that Scott played really well in it,” he said.

“Sometimes there are players who are just suited to a certain club, and when I look at Scotty, he seems right at Hibs.

“He’s a great boy. I’ve never had an issue with him, but he’s at a stage where he wants to play.

“I had a good summer working with him when I came in here, but he’d had a few ups and downs and it was about letting him go out and play somewhere.

“Scott has a lot of qualities.”

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes claimed that he would attempt to buy Ryan Christie at the end of the season, but Rodgers vowed that the Hoops will be keeping the 23-year-old.

“The plan was always for Ryan to come back,” he said.

“I looked at it last summer after he’d spent six months on loan to Aberdeen, working with Derek at a fantastic club, under pressure.

“I asked: ‘Is it better for him to play 40-plus games for them or maybe play between five and 10 for me?’

“We had a call-back facility in January if we’d wanted him, but I always felt a year playing out, working on his game and his physical strength, on preparing week-in and week-out for games would benefit him and benefit Celtic.

“I can’t blame Derek for wanting to have a player of that quality, but it’s not a discussion we’ll have. Ryan will come back here.”

Rodgers also claimed that the Rangers team built by Graeme Murty will be the strongest he’s yet faced when the teams meet at Ibrox a week today.

“What they’ve probably been striving for in my time here is that bit of consistency and stability and I think Graeme has done a very, very good job of that,” he claimed.

“They look, from what I see anyway, to have a better spirit. That’s clear, and Graeme’s looking to maximise what he can get out of the players.

“They’ve brought some experienced guys in, so I think they’re in a better place than at any time since I’ve been up here.”