BRENDAN RODGERS has warned big-money English Premier League clubs there will be no January bargain sales at Celtic.
Moussa Dembele has been linked with several teams, including the Irishman’s former outfit Liverpool.
The champions are determined to hang on to the France Under-21 international during next month’s transfer window.
But when the time comes for the 17-goal striker to move on, the £20million bids being prepared by the likes of the Anfield team and Manchester City won’t get close to the Hoops’ valuation.
Rodgers is adamant the old market rules – which meant Virgil van Dijk could go to Southampton for £13million, then be valued at £50million just over a year later because he’s played a full season in England’s top flight – will no longer apply.
He said: “Celtic will never have to worry about having to lose anyone for a sum of money that’s not relative to the talent.
“Gone are the days when someone’s going to look at the Scottish market and think: ‘We’ll get someone out of Celtic because it’s Scottish football’.
“A talent is a talent and, without being arrogant, I know what it looks like. World-class players. I know what talent’s like.
“I had a kid I put in the team at 17 and he left Liverpool for £49million. That was winger Raheem Sterling. There are other examples.”
Dembele, recently voted France’s Best Young International Player, is very much a part of the Rodgers revolution barely six months after agreeing a four-year deal when he quit Fulham in a £500,000 development fee.
The Parkhead gaffer added: “I understand there will be a point when something natural happens. A player might not want to leave, but there’s a pot of money on the other side that takes them to 70, 80 grand a week.
“That’s not showing a lack of ambition, that’s about having a moral obligation. How can we hang onto a player that can get that? That player will move.
“It’s our job, my job to protect the club and the talent we have. Having worked at a level where I know what the numbers look like and what’s paid, irrespective of what league we’re in, what the value of that player is.
“We don’ t want to or need to sell anyone.”
