Brendan Rodgers: Armstrong situation needs sorted one way or another

Brendan Rodgers believes Stuart Armstrong's ongoing contract wrangle has been affecting his play for Celtic.

Stuart Armstrong, right, shares a joke with former Dundee United team-mate Blair Spittal before kick-off. Picture: SNS

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The midfielder was left on the bench for the second consecutive league game as the champions continued their unbeaten run in domestic football with a 1-0 win over Partick Thistle.

Armstrong has been at the centre of speculation linking him with a move away from Celtic Park as his current contract, due to expire next summer, continues to tick down.

Celtic have been trying since the turn of the year to get the player tied down to a new deal, but so far have been unsuccessful in their attempts.

Rodgers now hopes to see a solution to the problem one way or another.

“Nothing on Stu,” Rodgers told BT Sport when asked if there was any update. “It needs to be resolved one way or the other.

“I can see it’s affecting him. He’s a good guy. He was at the top of his game for six months last season, played extremely well, and I can just see that he just doesn’t have that confidence at the moment. The contract situation has certainly played a huge part in that.

“As I said, I just hope we can get it sorted one way or another and we can once again see the Stuart Armstrong who performed so wonderfully last season.”