EFE AMBROSE knocked back a £300,000 move to Belgian outfit Standard Liege last night as Celtic tried to ship the player out.
It now looks as though the Nigerian international defender will run down his contract at Celtic and leave for free in the summer.
The 27-year-old defender can talk to any interested clubs in January and agree a pre-contract before quitting Parkhead.
It appears Ambrose, who was brought to the club by Neil Lennon from Israeli outfit FC Ashdod in 2012 for £1million, wants to remain in the UK. Reports that Rotherham, who are managed by Alan Stubbs, made an approach for the player seem to be wide of the mark.
Also, it remains to be seen if the erratic back-four performer is included in Brendan Rodgers’ Champions League squad for the group stages which has to be submitted by 11pm tonight. It seems highly unlikely.
The player was excluded from the play-off squad at the expense of goalkeeper Dorus de Vries and the Hoops boss has since added right back Cristian Gamboa, signed this week from West Brom, to his pool.
Ambrose’s Celtic career got off to a great start and he was a crucial player for Neil Lennon. However when Juventus exposed his defensive weaknesses, especially the high ball over the top, Ambrose seemed to become a shadow of his former self and has made a serious of high profile mistakes which are usually costly for Celtic.
After his recent own goal against Barcelona in a pre-season friendly in Dublin, Brendan Rodgers had seen enough and Ambrose hasn’t featured since.
