DANIEL ARZANI has been Celtic’s Invisible Man since signing on loan from Manchester City.

Willie Wallace fears the Socceroos starlet will disappear without a trace unless he gets a chance.

4 Daniel Arzani in action for Celtic Credit: Kenny Ramsay - The Sun Glasgow

Left out of the Hoops’ Europa League squad, the Australian rookie has yet to even bother the subs’ bench at Celts.

Boss Brendan Rodgers’ claimed last month the 19-year-old World Cup winger isn’t ready to play for his first team.

But Lisbon legend Wallace was BAFFLED by that after watching Arzani’s rise at Melbourne City — and wouldn’t blame him for quitting the Hoops.

Oz-based Wallace said: “Arzani is a good little player, and Brendan Rodgers disappointed me on that one.

4 Willie Wallace has let rip at Brendan Rodgers Credit: Willie Vass

“He’s saying it’s going to be a while before he plays. Well, why are Celtic paying the wages and not Man City?

“If I was the board at Celtic, I’d have kicked the manager’s a*** out the door.

“Why would you take Arzani for two years if he isn’t going to play in your team? The kid, for me, will finish up a better player than James Forrest.

“Arzani is quick, he takes people on, and he reminds me a bit of Jimmy Johnstone because of that.

“He doesn’t have Jinky’s trickery, but he gets balls over, and did really well at Melbourne City for a couple of seasons.

“When I heard Rodgers say he wasn’t ready, I was baffled. Why take the boy if he thinks he’s not ready?

“If I was the lad, I’d ask to go back to City or go somewhere else to get a game.”

Wallace respects Rodgers’ double Treble success at Celtic, but admits he doesn’t share a lot of his ideas.

4 Rodgers on the touchline Credit: Kenny Ramsay - The Sun Glasgow

While few would argue with the Hoops gaffer’s claim that his side simply aren’t good enough to compete with the Champions League elite, Wallace is upset Rodgers admitted it in public.

Wallace added: “Maybe I’m looking at things the way I did when I played at Celtic.

“We wanted to win the European Cup. Now we have a manager who says we can’t win it.

“As a Celtic fan, I think that’s wrong. I know it’s a dream, but I want to at least see them try.

“When the attitude is: ‘We don’t need to win . . . the gaffer doesn’t expect us to win anyway’, that’s not for me.

“Is he just being realistic? We were all realistic in 1967.

“We went down that tunnel in Lisbon and looked at the film stars next to us.

“We could have said: ‘Why are we going out there’? But if you think that, you’d be better staying in the dressing room.”

4 Wallace with the European Cup Credit: Kenny Ramsay - The Sun Glasgow

Wallace won five league titles with Celts in the Nine-in-a-Row run under Jock Stein, but believes the Hoops face a battle to match or beat that haul now.

Wallace said: “Rodgers has his own ideas for doing things. A lot of them are not my ideas. My idea is to get a settled side and play them week in, week out.

“Not have players sitting on the bench waiting for Thursday night.

“That’s like having a big car in the garage, but taking the Mini out all the time — and leaving the big car until the day it doesn’t rain.

“Clubs work out a system and the players fit into it. But then some move on, and the others don’t always fit in.

“Stuart Armstrong was a worker, but I liked him beside Scott Brown and Olivier Ntcham, who isn’t a bad little player.

“That would have been my midfield but it keeps changing now.

“Tom Rogic? I have watched him a long time and I’d beat him in a race — even today!

"Rogic’s a good enough player, but put him out there when he has to look at the big picture? He’s not at the races.

“I don’t think there are any guarantees for Celtic this year.

"It’s as close as it’s been, but they should be streets ahead of where they are, because they are the only ones who have been making good money these last five years.”

Willie Wallace is back in Glasgow for a Legends of Football event with fellow Lisbon Lion Jim Craig on Monday night at the Glasgow Concert Hall.

Tickets are still available.

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