Brendan Rodgers has confirmed Scott Brown will retain the captain’s armband at Celtic as he feels the Scotland midfielder is a “warrior”.

Rodgers replaced Ronny Deila as Celtic boss at the end of the season and he is keen to make his own mark on the squad, but he won’t be changing his captain.

He told the Daily Record: “Scott is a real warrior and he will stay captain here, 150 per cent. “Last season, towards the end, he was maybe hit a little by injury.

But he’s only 30 and still has his best years ahead.” Rodgers feels Brown can be compared to Liverpool talisman Steven Gerrard, who the Northern Irishman worked with during his time as manager at Anfield.

He added: “When I went into Liverpool as manager, Steven was 32. There was a lot of talk that maybe his best days were gone. “But Steven went on for the next two years and was brilliant for me at Anfield.

He was a great leader and he nearly went on to lift the Premier League title.” One of Rodgers’ first major decisions could well be whether or not to hand striker Anthony Stokes another chance at Parkhead.

Stokes was sent out on loan to Hibernian last season and helped the Edinburgh outfit claim the Scottish Cup and it seemed as if his Celtic career was over.

However, Rodgers could bring the forward back into the fold but Stokes is reportedly attracting interest from England, with Championship side Birmingham City believed to be weighing up a move for the striker.