CELTIC target Fraser Forster is in transfer limbo.
Southampton boss Ralph Hassenhuttl insists he will wait until the end of the Premier League season before focusing on sales talk.
The Saints will bring down the curtain on the campaign a week on Sunday when they face Sheffield United at St Mary’s. The Austrian gaffer has two other matches – against Brighton tomorrow and Bournemouth at the weekend – to concentrate on before making decisions in the market place.
Ideally, Neil Lennon would like fans’ favourite Forster in place when the champions kick off their bid for the historic 10 in a row against Hamilton Accies ar Parkhead on Sunday, August 2.
Hassenhuttl has previously discussed the 32-year-old keeper’s future and admitted he would be willing to allow him to leave on a permanent switch following the six times-capped England international’s successful loan return to Parkhead last term.
The south coast club, who are free of relegation problems, are looking for £6million for the shotstopper who still has two years to run on a lucrative £90,000-per-week contract.
The English side’s boss, as reported in the Evening Times, said: “I don’t concentrate so much on the transfer market, to be honest. I know we have some targets, but it is such a busy time, I have to focus on getting a performance from my team and the opponents we are facing.
“It costs a lot of energy at the moment to find the right game plan. You can imagine if you are playing teams like Manchester City and United you need a perfect game otherwise you have no chance.
“So, there is a lot of preparing, especially with two or three days between games.”
Forster quit the Hoops in August 2014 in a £10million deal for the Saints, but had fallen to number three in the pecking order behind Alex McCarthy and Angus Gunn before his temporary move to the Parkhead men last summer.
Scott Bain will be in charge of the gloves when Scotland’s title kings meet Nice in Lyon tomorrow night in the first of their three warm-up games in France with Moussa Dembele and the host club due on Saturday and Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday.
